Across the Parallel
by Dancing Darkness
Summary: 10th in the Unexpected series, it was meant to be an ordinary day, well a special day. Who knew that travel between parallel worlds wasn't quite as impossible as the Doctor thought?
1. Part I Something's a Bit Wrong

Hey there folks! I'm back as promised with a more elongated tale of John, the Doctor and Jenny! Hope you like it! It's the 10th part in the unexpected series and you may need to read the first parts otherwise it doesn't make complete sense!

Do tell me what you think! People have been calling for the face off and here it is!

Enjoy!

Allons-y!

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**Part I -** **Something's a Bit Wrong**

It was the appointed day. It had been decided about a month ago and, with a month's worth of planning they were finally ready. Beyond ready really. Jenny was going on seventeen and John was just past twelve. They were years behind compared to tradition even if they were up to speed intellectually and educationally. It was time.

It had been a joy to have Jenny back at last, a hole in the Doctor's heart had been filled and John had a sibling to share things with. The Doctor had been worried that this might ostracise John from human company but the affects seemed to have been minimal. The two were as close as could be expected and the Doctor had no desire to change it.

But it had all been a lead up to the next twenty minutes, the most important twenty minutes in John and Jenny's lives. It was, after all, time.

---

The Torchwood team had been out for coffee, just the three of them. They'd decided to order out and wander back at a leisurely place – taking joy in a slow day at the office. It had been unusually quiet as of late but they put that down to the act of the Daleks showing up a few years ago. The big bads in the universe were still more than a little wary.

The day was clear and sunny, unusual for rainy Cardiff, though there was a slightly muggy texture. Perhaps a storm was rolling in? All of them hurried to the hub, eager for the shelter from the wind and possibly a nicer smell than car exhaust fumes.

What they didn't expect was to find someone already in the hub. Someone unexpected no less. It was Ianto who noticed first and, as the others followed his gaze, all of them just stopped to stare. Whoever it was they were very thin, able to twist themselves almost completely inside the Torchwood rift manipulator – so much so, in fact, that it obscured their entire upper body. There was a tool belt slung low their hips filled with instruments none of them had ever seen.

There was a loud clang and a muffled expletive as whoever it was hit their head on something. The lights on the manipulator flickered slightly. A hand re-emerged as the figure pulled themselves free to stand back and look thoughtfully at the machine. They were shocked to find it was a girl, she had long blonde hair tied in a pony tail, now streaked with the odd bit of grease, and pale skin. She undeniably pretty as well. Her brown eyes were slightly obscured by a pair of red and black glasses sitting on her lightly freckled nose.

She caught sight of them and froze. For a moment they just looked at each other.

Jack was the first to react, "I'm Captain Jack Harkness," he introduced holding out a hand.

The girl seized it immediately and enthusiastically, "oh hello! You must be the leader of Torchwood, I've heard all about you." She beamed at him with a friendly smile and absolutely no hostility. "I'm sorry I just barged in but I did knock and no one answered and well, we are in sort of a hurry." Her eyes turned back to the machine involuntarily.

"What are you doing to the manipulator?" Ianto asked, hurrying to examine it for damage.

"Oh, fixing it, you know. We need it to be working properly," the girl shrugged. "But I just can't get the thing to stabilise or sequence. Can't figure out why. Probably needs an internal catalyst. I guess I'll just have to wait to for Dad, hoped I could do it without him and make him proud you know?"

"You're alien I take it?" Gwen inquired, hand wandering to her gun cautiously.

"Of course," the girl said slowly, rolling her eyes. "Humans," she sighed to herself. "I don't have any weapons or anything, just engineering bits. You know, the odd sonic tool and so on."

"Who were you again?" Jack asked, he hadn't moved and his face had taken on a look of seriousness.

"I'm Jenny," the girl replied, bouncing lightly on her toes.

"Jenny?"

"Just Jenny, never had much need of anything else," she grinned up at him winningly.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Jenny," Jack replied flirtatiously, all caution gone.

"Don't start," called a familiar voice from the large door to the hub. They turned to see the Doctor standing there in his usual suit, a strange contraption under one arm. He had his glasses on but they did not disguise the frown on his face.

"I was only saying hello," Jack protested with a smile, this was clearly a very old joke between them.

Yet the Doctor's face was a bit serious for a joke, "of course you were. Jenny, take this," he held out the weird device.

"Sure thing, Dad," Jenny responded, skipping up and taking it off his easily. "What do you want doing with it?"

"Wire it into the central control circuit, it'll add an extra line to the sequence," the Doctor told her, following as she returned to the manipulator. A boy followed behind him in close step, he was also wearing a suit though he couldn't be much more than just into his teens. He too wore the same glasses and had the Doctor's messy hair and freckles. It took them a second to recognise him as John, the six year old that had broken in and shut them down in one fell swoop. In his arms he carried twelve little discs and a serious amount of cabling.

"You're her dad?" Jack asked slowly, eyes moving to follow Jenny.

"Yes," the Doctor growled, glaring at him. "And that's quite enough of that, thank you."

"I thought you only had John?"

"It's difficult to explain," the Doctor shrugged as he watched his children work on the manipulator. They were really rather good at mechanics by now.

"So, why are you tinkering with our rift manipulator?" Jack folded his arms, also turning to watch the two alien children.

"It's time for their Rite of Initiation – overdue actually," the Doctor replied shortly.

Jack's eyes widened, he recalled the Doctor's words from so long ago and suddenly became wary. "You're going to open up the rift to create a gap in the fabric of reality?"

"That's the idea," John piped up from where his upper half was concealed under a series of panels.

"Isn't that dangerous? The rift's been open before and it wasn't good for anyone," Gwen said, coming forward worriedly.

"Nah," the Doctor replied, scratching the back of his head. "That's what we're here for. We know what we're doing, well most of the time. John's setting up a containment field and Jenny's rigging my catalyst. It'll all be fine." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "although humans aren't meant to look on the whole of the Vortex, so I guess we'll have to build optical shields for you lot."

"Why's that?" Ianto asked not taking his eyes off the pair.

"It would burn us up from the inside," Jack replied looking grimly at the manipulator. "The human mind is too simple to comprehend that kind of eternity, so are Time Lords if the truth is completely told."

The Doctor snorted and waved a hand.

"Well how do you explain the Master's insanity?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

"An unfortunate side affect that's all," the Doctor retorted.

"Wait a minute," Gwen interrupted, "you're going to open up a gap in space right? What exactly for?"

"I told you, it's the Rite of Initiation. When a Time Lord comes of age they're taken for Initiation, they gaze into the Untempered Schism – that was a similar rift on our home planet – and see the glory of time and space. From it we gain better control of our Time Sense and an understanding of time that you could never ever comprehend," the Doctor told her in a rush. "The idea is to open the rift up so they can take a look and then close it. Easy peasy."

"Time Sense?" asked Ianto, looking away for the first time.

"Time Lords can see all that is, was and wasn't. Also some of what will be but that's so much in flux that it's a tad dodgy. They also see what could not be, what should not be. That sort of thing," Jack replied, sipping his long forgotten coffee.

"You see all that? What's it like?"

"Can't explain it really, too hard. It's just a knowing, a feeling in the gut and the eyes. Pompeii's a real field day," the Doctor explained.

"Why's that?" Gwen asked.

"I can see the deaths of twenty thousand people," the Doctor said shortly. "John and Jenny can't see nearly so much but they're getting there."

There was a very distinct silence.

"They also need to choose their names, that comes after Initiation after all," the Doctor continued.

"Names?" Jack offered the Doctor some coffee as he spoke. The Doctor of course declined.

"Well I wasn't always called the Doctor, I chose the name after my Initiation to symbolise what I wanted to do. Our true names are kept to ourselves and close kin, there's power in a name after all. John's true name is the same as mine, we use 'John' because we can't just go around telling people now can we?" he replied.

There was more silence as they all considered this. "Are they going to react like you said before?" Jack asked thoughtfully.

The Doctor cocked his head and mused, "well, they will react in one of the three ways; run, inspire or madness. No way to tell which. We'd just best get ready to catch them if we've got a runner," he shrugged again.

"Shouldn't you be checking their work?" Ianto asked worriedly.

"I am, they're doing fine. Finished in fact. Is that right?" he called over to his children.

Both swivelled to look at him as the twelve silver discs John had been carrying hovered into the air to form a circle. Lightning crackled between them and held strong. "Containment field ready," John confirmed.

"Rift catalyst active," Jenny told them, slinging a spanner back into her tool belt.

"Right then" the Doctor said as he handed each of the Torchwood team a pair of 3D glasses with red and blue lenses. "Put these on, they'll filter out the Vortex, you'll just see blank space," he told them.

They did as he said and, once the Doctor was satisfied, he moved to the manipulator. "Jenny, take your position," he said as he began to fiddle with the controls. Jenny moved to stand before the controls and they could see her hands shake with nerves. She smoothed her green t-shirt and gazed into the centre of the containment field. John moved off to the side so he couldn't see at all. "Ready?" the Doctor asked gently, smiling softly at his daughter.

Jenny nodded slowly, smiling nervously.

"You're going to be fine, Jen," the Doctor told her as he flipped the switch, well leaver. There was a clunk and whir, several sparks flew, and then the centre of the field began to shimmer.

The Torchwood team couldn't see anything, of course, but Jenny certainly could. Her eyes unfocused and widened as she gazed, gradually her nervous shaking stopped. She tentatively backed up a pace. Then she stepped closer, brow furrowing as she examined whatever she saw. Then a slow smile spread across her face.

"It's beautiful," she told her father and the Doctor smiled.

"What do you feel?" he asked her as he fingered the off leaver.

"I feel," Jenny paused thoughtfully, "I feel like I could know everything and see everything. There is so very much to see! So much to do!"

The Doctor grinned and yanked the leaver down, the rift closed and the shimmering stopped. "Your turn, John," he said.

John moved to the spot Jenny had vacated, just as nervous. He swallowed and looked his father who smiled. "Ready?" he asked.

John nodded and the leaver flipped once more.

John's reaction was starkly different from his sister's. His eyes grew very wide and his breathing became harsh. He moved back a step, his eyes darting around the field. One step became two and then suddenly he spun on his heel and fled, sprinted for the door.

"Catch him," the Doctor called as he switched the rift back off. He immediately went to his son, who'd been caught by Jack, and looked deep into his eyes, murmuring quietly in a tongue that none of them understood. Well none except Jenny.

"What's going on?" Ianto asked her.

"John has a sharper Time Sense than me, like dad. When he saw the rift he saw too much and it terrified him, he'll be fine though. It's a standard reaction, dad did the same thing," she explained easily.

"What about you?"

"Oh, I'm one of the inspired, we're a bit different," she said simply. She was about to say more when a disturbing sound filled the air. The rift manipulator was clanking, louder and louder and louder.

They all turned slowly to see the hovering discs shaking and shuddering. "Glasses on," the Doctor shouted to them as the Vortex ripped back into existence. They were lucky they hadn't taken them off. The Doctor sprinted to the controls while alarms went off left right and centre, filling the hub with sirens. Jenny and John quickly moved to help him, twiddling dials and examining readings.

"What's going on?" Jack bellowed over the din.

"The rift's opening back up because of the recent activity," the Doctor hollered back, not looking up. "It's just about being held by the containment field but something's wrong."

Papers began to fly off desks and the room was literally beginning to shake.

"What do you mean?" Jack shouted as he grabbed a nearby beam for support.

"The tear is oscillating, like it's resonating," the Doctor replied shaking his head. "The only reason that should happen is if the TARDIS was nearby but we left her more than a mile away, too far to affect the rift really."

"Dad," John called.

"What we need to do is amplify the field," the Doctor continued, handing a series of cables to his son.

"Dad," John repeated, more insistent.

"Maybe a retro-alconversion and neostabilisers?" the Doctor mused.

"Dad!" John all but shouted, that certainly got everyone's attention.

They turned to see that John was looking a bit insubstantial, he was also floating. There was a mild look of panic in his eyes and he turned slowly. "I think something's a bit wrong," he said after a moment.

"John," the Doctor said slowly, "don't move at all."

John nodded, "I think it's a resonation funnel field," he told them. "I can feel the pull in my stomach."

"How does he know that?" Jenny asked quietly.

"Probably something to do with his Initiation, his Sense is more acute than yours," the Doctor replied as he desperately fought with the controls to try and find out what was happening.

"Oh," was all John said as he vanished completely with a violent bang.

---

Well? What did you think? Not-for-lack-of-trying requested some Jack flirting with Jenny action and I was worried there was mind reading going on becuase I had just written that section!

Please review! It'll help the floundering ego!

Love ya all!

- D


	2. Part II Sunbeams

Here I am again! Here's the chapter and everything! Now I do have to apologise for the strange ordering of this chap because I wrote the fic as a whole one shot and only decided to chop it up later - thus the segments are a bit weird. Sorry :(. Also this hasn't been beta'd but I'm sure that's fine...right?

Anywho! Enjoy!

Thanks for my reviewers!

Allons-y!

**---  
**

**Part II - Sunbeams**

Dimension travel was never a comfortable experience, not even when the Time Lords watched things, so to say that John flew out the other end violently was an understatement. He shot out of a hole in reality with considerable force, crashed through two dustbins, an angry cat and a shopping trolley before coming to a sudden stop as he hit a dirty brick wall. He groaned and slumped to the floor clutching his head. At least nothing was broken.

Slowly he got to his feet and tried to just himself off as his head swam. He was covered in brick dust and lord knows what else, he could barely stand the thought of it. He did a small inventory to make sure he still had all his items, his own sonic screwdriver – well it was actually a sonic pen, psychic paper, wallet, glasses. Everything seemed to be in order. Well everything except he had absolutely no idea where he was.

How did he get here anyway? What exactly happened? At a guess he believed that he was caught as two rift devices connected and formed some sort of transportation funnel but beyond that it was anyone's guess. He didn't want to say 'magic door' but that was looking more and more likely. Well it was best to take a look around.

John strode to the end of the alleyway he'd been catapulted down and took a long look around. His jaw dropped. The smell of the air, the colour of the sky and the architecture told him that this was London in the UK on planet Earth. He'd been to London hundreds of times with his father; it was sort of like a home city or a favourite holiday spot. But he was as sure as sure could be that London did not have zeppelins. Yet it had to be wrong, the hairs standing up on the backs of his arms and his new Time Sense told him this was so.

Many things about this situation were not good. Many, many things.

He scooped a nearby tossed paper off the floor and examined it closely. It was the same date at least as well as the same city. His insides were going cold. His dad had told him about this in a story so long ago back when he was still only months old – it was in a story about the woman that could be called his mother. This was a parallel world. He hadn't just crossed space and time he'd crossed the Void as well.

He swallowed, that made getting home that little bit harder.

But no less possible! He could get here, he could get back. He'd just need to resonate the rift on this side while someone did it on the other. Easy! His dad would figure it out. That settled John decided he would need to go to Torchwood on this side, to the rift they had. From the looks of things the rift in the parallel universe, Pete's World, was in a slightly different place, probably the same place the Cybermen crossed through actually. He wouldn't have been jettisoned far.

That meant he'd be breaking into a highly secured government building. He'd need key codes because psychic paper only worked on people really. That meant stealing things and breaking things with his sonic pen. Sounded like fun.

His insides refroze, the head of Torchwood in this universe was none other than Pete Tyler – his dad had told him that. He'd also told him that this place was like a gingerbread house, so many temptations. John was tempted, in fact, he wanted to see what had happened to his dad – his human dad – eight years ago when they just left him here. What had happened to him and Rose?

Well he did have to break into Torchwood and Rose's dad was the head. So maybe they lived in the same place? Couldn't hurt to look right? He had to check anyway and he'd only be there what? Twenty minutes? A grin spread over his face as he slowly pulled out his mobile phone.

A quick search had led him to the mansion of the Tylers and confirmed that Rose Tyler did, in fact, still live there. It also told him that she was married to a Jonathan Smith and he was now Jonathan Tyler. She'd been married seven years and had two children, Jack Tyler aged six and Donna Tyler aged four. She had a whole life here, a life without him and without knowledge of him. It hurt in a way, really hurt. He now understood what his dad meant by not being able to go back. But he stood by his decision at the end of reality all those years ago – it was better that she didn't know.

Before turning up at the mansion he decided that he'd need new clothes, his pinstripe suit was too like his dad's and he was walking into a place that may recognise him on sight. He wandered around until he located a nearby homeless shelter. They gave him a meal – soup, wasn't bad actually – and a bag to put his suit in. He also retrieved off them a long black duster jacket, faded of course and a simple white dress shirt with a dark red tie. He also managed to get a pair of faded smart black jeans with pads sewed into the knees. He kept his white converse, he couldn't' bare to take them off but made sure that the laces were at least mismatched. His normal black glasses finished the look – at least it was almost a suit. He was annoyed at the smallness of the pockets, however. He'd been so used to them being bigger on the inside.

All it took to get him in to the Tyler mansion was a bluff that he was new house staff, son of a friend, you understand, to explain his age, and a flash of the psychic paper. The head matron had simply nodded and directed him to the servants' quarters, given him clothes and put him to work. Very Victorian and very, very easy. They'd redressed him in black tie servants' ware, thereby ruining his disguise. He still wore his glasses but made sure to smooth down his unruly hair, maybe that would at least conceal him a bit better. He rearranged his belongings into his new pockets, just in case. He was put to work tidying with the maids and soon found out the entire layout of the house. What was it dad said? You want to know anything, work in the kitchens.

Of course he couldn't work there all day, even to maintain a good disguise. He'd have to leave before any of the Tyler family returned. He was making his way to Pete Tyler's study to search his computer when he ran into an unexpected problem. She was three feet tall, if that, and had dark brown hair. She had huge curious eyes and was wearing a light blue flowered dress. "Who are you?" Donna Tyler asked curiously as she gazed up at him.

John froze for a second before a smile spread on his face. "I'm John Smith, young mistress," he replied politely, "new house staff." He bowed to her.

She giggled, "That's my Daddy's name," she told him proudly.

"Really?" he asked her, eyes growing huge comically to amuse her.

She laughed again, "well his name is Jonathan but mum calls him Jon," she confirmed. She swung her arms and smiled adorably.

"What does he do?" he asked gently.

"He works at a university – mum says that's a place for clever people like daddy," she told him, swinging her arms.

There was awkward silence between them before she suddenly seized his hand. "Come with me," she commanded and literally dragged him out of the room. They turned down the hall and he had to stumble to keep up. They went down the ornate stairs, dodged the house keeper and ended up in a cosy room at the back of the house.

This was undoubtedly his father's room. His human father's that was. It was filled with books of every size and colour, they lined every wall and filled almost every surface. On one wall there was a black board covered in chalk physics calculations, looked like temporal mechanics. There was a cluttered desk covered in a half finished wires and consoles. John smiled, this was just like his father's room on the TARDIS. It was familiar here, warm.

In the far corner that Donna led him to there was a grand piano, it was clearly old and worn – just how his father would have preferred them. The Doctor loved music, for every Time Lord and TARDIS has their own song, but never particularly indulged in it. That was a task that seemed to be John's alone, he converted the songs he heard on the air and in the minds of others into music and played them for all the world to hear. He'd done it since his dad first showed him how to play when he was four. One day, he'd often sworn, he'd play before an audience and show them the beauty of humanity. The beauty of their song. One day.

Donna sat on the small black stool and looked at him expectantly. Clearly she was a child used to getting her own way in everything. Gingerly he sat next to her. She lifted her small fingers to the keys and began to play. It was a bit disjointed and slow but there was talent there. Her little brow furrowed in concentration as she played for him.

It was a simple tune and when it was done she turned to him once more, "what do you think?" she asked.

"It's very good, young mistress," John told her with a smile.

"That's what everyone says," she grumbled. "But I know they're lying to me." She clearly wasn't happy at the pandering.

"You like playing the piano then?" John asked.

"Yes," she chirped, "my daddy used to teach me but he doesn't have time any more. This old man comes, Mr Jenkins, but he's not very good. Do you like the piano?"

John blinked as the words came at quite a substantial speed. "Yes, yes I do," he smiled, "I love music."

She nodded sagely and then poked him in the ribs, hard. "You play," she ordered.

"Yes, young mistress!" he barked with a mock salute that made her laugh.

It had been a while since he played, a few days before he'd gone for Initiation. But this was like riding a bike. He breathed in and closed his eyes, simply resting his fingers on the keys. He allowed his hands to pick the melody and played from his heart a song he'd written years ago. It wasn't very skilful or overly fast, it was a sentimental song written for a woman his father had known so long ago now. Before John was born at any rate.

He opened his eyes and allowed a grin to cross his face as he played for Donna moving smoothly from one song to another he wrote for her name sake. It was faster and full of joy, full of his memories. Next to him the little girl danced and laughed, this was what music was for.

"Can you teach me to play like that?" she asked with big eyes when he was finished.

"Play like me? Well that's sort of difficult because we're all a bit different. I mean for starters you're a girl! You won't play like me because you don't think like me. I also have far more years experience," he mused but abruptly stopped when he saw her face fall. "But!" he exclaimed to instantly recapture her attention, "I can teach you to play like _you_." He grinned at her and wiggled his eyebrows.

After a long moment she grinned back.

"How about it?" he asked.

She nodded enthusiastically and placed her hands upon the black and white keys expectantly.

He placed his hands next to hers, straightened his back and began. He had no idea, of course, how much he looked like his father. He'd donned his black glasses, clever glasses you understand, and began to speak gently and patiently. The tone his father had used so many times with him. "Do you know your notes?" he asked her.

She hummed in thought and slowly nodded her head, "great big dogs bite animals and all cars eat gas," she told him brightly.

It took him a second to recognise the words as anagrams of the musical scales, "right," he said with a laugh. "Well I'm not going to teach you using music."

"You aren't?"

"Nope," he shook his head and turned to her. "Music isn't always something you just play from a piece of paper. It's what's in here," he tapped over her heart, "and what's in here," he tapped her forehead and made her giggle. "There's music all around us, we're all part of it. Playing it out is the hard part."

"I'm music?" Donna asked, confused.

"Yes, yes you are," he said grandly and ruffled her hair. "Don't you hear it?"

"Hear what?" she cocked her head.

"The music, it's around us after all."

"Here?" she asked incredulously, looking around her father's study. Her eyes couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. "I don't see anything."

"You don't_ see _music," John told her with a small smile, "you feel it. I can feel music about you and this room. Music communicates without words and language. It whispers to our hearts." These were the words his father had used to explain telepathy to him so long ago when he'd first taught John to sing. This was how he, his father and even the Ood sang to the universe unconsciously. Though his father had actually told him the scientific explanation about engrams and electro fields but he didn't think Donna would understand that.

"Can you show me?" she asked, still confused.

"Of course," John replied and closed his eyes. There was warmth here, happiness, he could feel it in the air and the wood. His left hand unconsciously played a major chord, its merry soft notes filled the room. His right hand then moved a held down a note in the middle of the piano that resonated against the chord. "Can you feel it?" he asked her, opening his eyes.

She shook her head, biting her lip in concentration.

John renewed the chord, "this is the air, old feelings," he told her. His right hand moved to play a soothing rhythm, slow and melodic. "This is a man working quietly, a work he enjoys. A warm evening," he continued.

Donna nodded, imagining her father at his desk. It was almost as if the music was painting the picture.

Suddenly the chord changed to a higher pitched and John's right hand danced in a much happier and faster tune. "This," he said with a grin, "is the books and the thoughts that come when they're read," he told her. He almost began to hum the low tune he'd played in the beginning, the tunes melded together.

Suddenly Donna got it, the strange servant was playing the room for her. Literally describing it and the feelings in it with music. It was amazing! Mr Jenkins had never been able to do that.

John's grin widened as he felt her understand. "Do you want to try?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed at straightened next to him.

"Now, what I want you to do is pick a memory," he told her in his teaching tone, taking his hands off the keys.

Donna nodded and closed her eyes.

"Got one?"

"Yes," she replied after a moment, smiling.

"What is it?" he asked.

"My daddy," she told him, with a firm nod.

John felt his heart clench but continued anyway, "now open your eyes," he said. "Using your left hand play the feeling you get when you see him."

Donna nodded once more and after a second pressed down on the keys. It was in the upper octaves of the piano, well she was young after all, and was a strange major chord. Happiness and curiosity. It was definitely coming from the right place though.

"Very good," he praised her. She puffed out her chest when he told her of course. "Now can you think of a tune for the way he walks? The way he hugs you?"

She bit her lip, "I can't play with both hands," she mumbled, ashamed. She'd only just started after all.

"Oh you'd be surprised," John encouraged her with a broad smile, "just give it a try."

Try she did. The tune was halting and unsure, just a product of her age and lack of teaching. Yet it was still undeniably music and, bit by bit, she was getting better. "See?" he said.

"Yours is still better," she grumbled.

"That is because I am amazing," he told her smugly and she laughed.

"Can you play another one?" she asked eagerly, pulling on his sleeve.

"Well, I suppose," he hedged, he really should get back to what he was doing.

She pleaded with him with huge eyes threatening to cry and he caved instantly.

"How about the one about my home?" he asked her, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Your house?" she asked.

"No, my planet," he corrected before he could stop himself. She was four, she wouldn't' say anything right?

"Is it a good song?" she asked, seemingly unaffected.

"It's very, very old. I didn't write it. But I think it's good."

"You feel it?"

He looked at her and raised an eyebrow, "you catch on quickly," he remarked and she grinned toothily. He nodded and his hands fell into a familiar rhythm. This was a song plucked from the memories of his father that whispered whenever he, John or even Jenny spoke of their lost home. It was soothing at parts and exciting at others. Ideally he'd play it with an orchestra and not just a piano, two hands just couldn't cover the complexity. But he liked to think he compensated well enough. His hands danced through the exciting tune as it described his culture, their history and his entire planet without words. He knew Donna wouldn't pick up on the telepathic layer that he was singing behind it but it would do.

He came to a sudden stop when he heard the door shut behind him. He spun to see the elderly housekeeper that had employed him, "ma'am," he exclaimed as he jumped to his feet, becoming a correct servant in a second.

"Be seated, Mr Smith," she said kindly as she shuffled into the room. "Now what would the two of you be doing?" she said kindly, a smile on her stern features.

"John was teaching me piano," Donna informed her proudly, gesturing it at the instrument behind them. "He's really good!"

John blushed, an act of course, and pretended to look chastised, "I'm sorry, ma'am! I know I'm meant to be in the hall but the young mistress asked and I couldn't refuse her-" he babbled.

"Not to worry, Mr Smith," she soothed him, holding up her hand to halt his explanation. "I have been listening for quite some time by the door and I have never heard the young mistress play so well." She nodded her head sagely, "indeed it was quite the transformation! She has enjoyed this afternoon more than any lesson with Mr Jenkins so by all means proceed, you are relieved of your afternoon duties."

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am."

"This is only this once, Mr Smith," she warned. "I shall also have to send the master to talk to you when he returns." She promptly left. John sensed this was more of a blessing than a curse and that he wouldn't be in any real trouble. He also wouldn't proceed with his much needed devices until tomorrow either. It couldn't' be helped. At least he'd managed to nab some electronics to build things out of. At least he now had enough to build the beginnings of a stabiliser.

He looked at Donna and they shared a conspiratorial grin. "What next?" she asked eagerly.

"Let's do sunbeams," he suggested. Two sets of hands settled on the keys and music filled the air once more.

----

Jonathan Tyler smiled happily at the housekeeper that afternoon as he walked in. She directed him to his study telling him that his daughter and son, Donna and Jack, were practising the piano. This was strange since both of them despised their teacher, Arthur Jenkins. It wasn't really the old man's fault; he was very good at the piano but Jon's children just weren't very good at listening. They quickly became bored.

As he walked through the large house to his study Jonathan Tyler mused how things were going well in his life, despite the strange events of eight years previous. He and Rose had married, they'd fallen in love despite the fact he wasn't the Doctor, not really. Rose loved him as a different man in his own right. It was a good feeling. They'd been married seven years and had two children, both of which shared his adventurous attitude. He was doing a job he enjoyed and lived with those he loved, the adventure he'd always wanted to have. Well the Doctor did. It got a little confusing sometimes.

It could have been some kind of foreshadowing because when he pushed open his study to see his children at the piano it was like the past punched him in the face, but in a good way. The light was painting halos across the floor and the piano glowed with it, well varnished wood glinting. On the long stool in front of it sat Donna and Jack either side of a person who, by their clothing, appeared to be a servant. The limb proportions of the stranger hinted that they were young and there was a slightly wild look about them because of the messy dark hair. He was speaking softly to the children as they played, his hands beating time slowly for them. For the life of him Jonathan had never heard the children play so well.

"Quite the sight, isn't it, sir?" a quiet voice said from beside him.

He turned to see their head housekeeper and smiled, "I've never heard them play so," he agreed. "How long have they been at it?"

"All afternoon, sir," the housekeeper replied. "First miss Donna and then young master Jack, they seemed to be enjoying it so that I didn't wish to pry them away." She too smiled as she looked on the children.

"That long?" Jonathan was duly surprised.

"Oh yes, I believe miss Donna asked young Mr Smith there to help her and things just escalated. I gave him leave of his afternoon duties because the children enjoyed it so, if that is quite alright, sir?"

"Oh yes, yes," Jonathan murmured distractedly.

"Tea, sir?"

"That would be wonderful, thank you." At his words the housekeeper vanished and Jonathan was left back to his observations of the children and this new boy. He was clearly talented and his playing was oddly familiar.

"Like this?" he heard his son ask.

"No," the man disagreed but not cruelly, "you have to feel the music."

The notes chimed again as Jack resumed.

"Can you play again?" Donna pleaded with big eyes and the stranger laughed. Again the laugh was familiar.

"What should I play?" he asked.

"Your home song, it's the prettiest," she wheedled, pulling on his sleeve.

The boy laughed again and his hands seemed to move with a mind of their own. What became apparent was that this boy was very talented and further that he didn't play with musical notes in mind, there was too much emotion. This boy played with his soul as well, the music was an extension of his feelings. Jonathan's eyes widened, he recognised this song only too well.

The boy at the piano in front of him flickered as, involuntarily, a memory jumped before his eyes. In it the light was blue green and the TARDIS thrummed around him. It was a study much like this one but there were even more books. The piano was more beaten, older and more scarred but with a sense of good age, like wine. On the stool before it was a little boy about five with the same wild hair and haphazard dress. His fingers also danced across the keys, a little haltingly due to youth, but the melody was still familiar. Even if it was more elaborate.

He cleared his throat and abruptly those fingers ceased as three sets of eyes turned to look at him. "Donna, Jack," he called softly, "your mother will be home soon, why don't you go wash up?" He watched as they left, lifting them slightly as they hugged him.

The door clicked softly shut and the two left alone in the room stared at each other. Jonathan took in every note of the other's appearance from the servant's wear that was rumpled to his messy brown hair. His son may be bigger and older but he could still see the six year old that he'd had to leave behind. His son was getting to be as tall as him now.

"You've grown," he managed after a second, sounding slightly strangled.

"Yeah," John mused with a laugh, "eight years'll do that."

"How've you been?"

"Oh you know. Same life really, last of our kind and all that," John replied, looking away and shoving his hands in his pockets. "You?"

"Good, yeah. Got married, had kids," Jonathan said with a smile.

"Two great ones from what I've seen."

"You still play I take it? Much better than before I might add."

"Oh yes, can't keep this Time Lord down," John smiled and his fingers twitched unconsciously.

There was a silence. "How did you get here?" Jonathan asked, gaze unwavering.

"Accident, had to open the Cardiff rift for Initiation and it resonated with this one, I just sorta bounced through," John told him, rubbing the back of his neck in annoyance.

"Initiation? Already?"

"Well I am sort of overdue you know," John replied as he picked up a photo on the desk and examined it.

"What did you do?" Jonathan leaned forward, eager.

John snorted, "I ran of course, they had to work to catch me."

"My boy," Jonathan said approvingly.

"Sort of."

"Sort of," Jonathan agreed. "What about Rose-"

"No."

"But aren't you the least bit curious?"

John looked up at him and rolled his eyes, "of course I am but this place is a gingerbread house. I have to get home."

"And how are you planing to do that?"

"I'm working on it," John huffed and folded his arms. "Can I go? I have to move on before I cause suspicion."

"Yeah, sorry," Jonathan moved aside so the boy could leave the room.

John went to the door and paused, looking over his shoulder. "It was good to see you, dad," he muttered. "I'm glad you're happy." Then he left.

Jonathan realised he'd glimpsed some of John's pain, repressed for years. He'd sure got good at hiding it. "Good to see you too," he replied to the empty room.

----

What did you think? I know it's a bit of a mishmash but it just sort of happened you know?

The song that John plays about his home planet is one of two things, a piano version of **This is Gallifrey - Official Doctor Who soundtrack** (you can find it on youtube and things)

OR

I like to think of it as this one: **h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / w a t c h ? v = j F W t h - T o Y u E ** (you'll have to delete the spaces etc)

This is from an anime series called Darker Than Black and the mood of the song just fits John (it's basically a girl playing a song for a mother she barely remembers whose death destrpyed her - fitting I thought. John doesn't remember Gallifrey but the loss greatly saddens him.)

That aside please review! PLEASE! Feed my pathetic ego...

Love you all!

- D


	3. Part III I'm Going to Live Where?

Hey guys! Sorry I was away so long! I was in Rome with my mother on a compulsory 'bonding trip'. So excited that new Doctor Who is out on sunday! *bounces*

Anywho! Same as usual! Enjoy!

Allons-y!

**----  
**

**Part III - I'm Going to Live Where?**

John snuck into Pete's study the very next morning. Of course. No need to wait and he had a home to get back to. There was the low hum of his sonic pen and then he was in the study and before the computer. He wasn't as skilled as his father but he did know a thing or two about hacking and this really was a simple system. He began copying codes and date and plans, locating who, what and where if you will.

He couldn't have predicted that Pete Tyler would return from work early. He couldn't have predicted that he would head straight for his study. He couldn't have predicted that he would be discovered.

----

Pete Tyler had been having a strange day, a fluctuation in the Void scanners had sent a panic through the whole Torchwood building but investigation had yielded nothing. The walls of the world remained strong as ever and normalcy returned. He'd had more than a little paperwork and had decided that the best place to do it was at home. Jackie was at a friend's, Rose and Jon were at work. Jack was school and Donna should be with her nurse. Seemed the perfect place for quiet.

He hadn't expected to find a member of staff in his study, a place that should be locked at all times. One look in the boy's eyes had told him the boy was an intruder; working in Torchwood caused a man developed those instincts. The intruder had dark hair, slicked into a servant's cut and the appropriate servant's uniform. In his hand was a tool that Pete couldn't quite see but in his other hand were some of Pete's files, from the door he could recognise key codes to the Torchwood building.

There were a number of things that could be done with those codes. None of them good.

The next minute happened incredibly quickly. Pete vaguely realised he was shouting something, probably along the lines of 'stop thief', as the boy exploded into motion. He lithely dodged around Pete as Pete lurched towards him to try and grab him. He still had the files in hand as he danced out the door. Pete of course ran after him. The boy was extraordinarily fast as was at the front door in moments, Pete hot on his heels. He darted across the road and turned left to run down the street – clearly this was a planned escape route.

What happened next shocked both of them.

Donna was out on the front lawn playing with her nurse and their dog, a golden retriever named Verity. The dog had bounded after the fleeing boy and was fast catching up with him, barking loudly as she ran across the road. Donna looked up, smiling as she recognised the boy, and her four year old mind converted the entire situation into a game. She too got up and gave chase. She ran across the road.

Into the path of an oncoming car.

Pete couldn't have predicted what happened next. The boy turned at his shout and caught sight of Donna in the road. Instead of continuing to run he pivoted with incredible agility and threw aside the folder and codes he risked himself to get. He began to run. He leapt over Verity, confusing her, and ran straight into the road.

Strong hands grabbed Donna around the waist and hurled her at Pete, who only just managed to catch her. Pete's eyes flew to meet a pair of calm brown ones. There was no way the boy would get out of the way of the car as well, they both knew that. Yet Pete could see no fear there, no apprehension at all. The boy blinked and only had time to glance at the oncoming silver car as it hit him, side on, with an almighty _crunch_.

Time resumed its normal speed as his body hurtled across the tarmac, rolling to a bloody stop. Pete handed Donna to the nurse and immediately ran to his side. The boy was facing upward and had a grimace of pain on his face. His legs were broken, Pete could tell that from the angle of them. He also probably had internal bleeding because he was beginning to cough up blood. At least Pete didn't believe there to be a spinal injury and the top half of his body was mostly undamaged. His breathing was steady, if hitching in pain.

"Call an ambulance," he bellowed to the startled nurse as he pulled off his jacket and wadded it, holding it to a gaping wound on the boy's left leg and side to stem the bleeding. "What's your name?" he asked soothingly.

The boy looked at him blearily for a moment and then smiled. He shook his head wryly. Pete was surprised he could manage that. The boy grunted as he tried to move, it was obviously painful.

"Don't move, the ambulance will be here soon," Pete told him, trying to hold him still. He could already hear the sirens.

"Ugh, don't have to say that again," the boy wheezed through his cough. His eyes widened, "I can't go to hospital," he told Pete, grabbing his shirt urgently.

"You're injured. Of course you are going to hospital," Pete replied, still struggling to hold him still.

Any protest the boy made was lost as the paramedics arrived and hurriedly sedated him. Pete opted to ride in the ambulance. Any man, or boy, that willingly ran into the path of an oncoming car to save a small child was a good man, no matter what they may have been doing. Pete also needed to ask him what he wanted with the codes. And say thank you.

---

Doctor Copford was the medical director at East General Hospital, had been for ten years. He was experienced, an expert in his field and only ever called in for the worst emergencies. Yet in his life he had never seen a patient like the one brought in an hour ago. Never.

He was a John Doe, a thief caught in a car accident while saving a little girl. The damage to his legs was horrendous but at least internal injury was minimal, the car had caught at the optimum angle for his survival. What was strange was the internal bleeding healed itself before any of the doctors had a chance to even look at him.

The respiration of the patient was also odd, very regular and deep. Almost like there were extra channels for the air to travel through. He'd also stabilised with little to no outside help, the rate of recovery was astounding. Far beyond normal parameters. He achieved what took most patients weeks in mere minutes.

This was further seen when his initial x-rays were compared with the ones taken minutes ago. Fourteen breaks and five fractures had transformed into just three breaks with one fracture. The ligaments and tendons had completely realigned and healed.

The minute he'd seen this Doctor Copford had authorised a full body x-ray to confirm that the machine wasn't faulty as well as a blood test. It was there he saw the true extent of what they were dealing with. The boy's lungs were larger than average, able to filter oxygen far more efficiently. It was highly likely that with such a system he'd be able to survive physical asphyxiation. Not only that but other aspects of physiology were distinctly inhuman, organs that the doctor could not even begin to identify.

Most strange of all was that the boy possessed what appeared to Doctor Copford to be a bivascular system. He had two functioning hearts, one on the left and one on the right, that worked together to provide his body with blood. They were identical and beat in exact sync. There was literally no explanation.

His blood was full of elements that didn't match up the human biological make up on a cellular level. The boy's DNA didn't even code in the same manner!

This was way beyond him. There was one thing to do in this situation. Just one.

He turned to the nurse next to him who was waiting for instructions, "Get Torchwood," he told her firmly.

-----

Coming to after an accident isn't especially thrilling for anyone, least of all John. His internal body clock, very accurate in the case of Time Lords, told him that five hours and twenty three minutes had passed since the accident. The whiteness around him that he could see through his eyelids, the clear walls and clean smell told him that, much to his distaste, he was in a hospital. His day just got better and better. They would have had long enough to note his alien physiology and alert the very people John was avoiding. Great. Just great.

He did a quick internal check and found that his legs were still injured but at least his blood chemicals were normal, they hadn't tampered with anything, and his hearts were beating steadily. Brain functions weren't impeded and nerve conduction was at optimum levels. He'd be up and about in no time.

The stillness in the air told him no one was in the hospital room with him. The resonation of the heart monitors beside him, which were beeping out an interesting double beep, told him that he was in a small private room. He'd probably been moved the minute they realised he was an alien. He could feel scanning pads on his chest and forehead. There was a respiratory tube up his nose and down his throat, lovely. At least he wasn't hooked up to an IV. That was a small mercy.

He opened his eyes to look around. It was just as he thought empty small room with one bed. He glared at his hospital gown in disgust, what he'd give for his suit right now. The blinds were down over the window to the rest of the ward and he could hear voices out there. He just couldn't make them out.

He needed to get out of here. He needed to avoid the oncoming awkward situation. He sat up slowly and pulled the respiration tubes out, coughing quietly. He didn't want to think about them forcing those down his nose! He didn't need them anyway. He carefully put them to one side next to the generic vase of hospital flowers, trying his best to be completely silent.

It was only when he removed the pads that things got lively, he'd forgotten to turn the machines off. The air filled with sirens and warning alarms, John put his hands over his ears against the noise. This, of course, brought people running into the room. Nurses, doctors and soldiers surrounded him. Fantastic.

Well it was time for that end-all of all strategies! Play dead. Or at least very stupid.

As the nurses and doctors began to ask incessant questions he remained silent, eyes very big with acted fear. He started to edge away from them, trying to exude growing levels of panic. Thankfully this did work, the soldiers moved to drag away the doctors. Yet it was only to let far more dangerous people into the room.

Rose and Pete Tyler, as respective heads of Torchwood, were both on call it seemed. John had never met the woman that had contributed to a thousandth of the DNA strands in his biological make up. He had only seen her in a glimpse from the top of the stairs at Donna's when the world was ending or seen the flashes in his father's mind. Yet here he was, confronted with her. She was older than he remembered, of course. There was age on that beautiful face now, experience too. Maturity was shown by the formal office-wear she'd donned and he could see the wedding band on her finger. How time had changed things.

She stepped forward and stared straight back at him. She cleared her throat, "My name is Rose Tyler and I represent Earth on behalf of the species known as humankind." She introduced herself with a smile, kind hearted and welcoming.

John obeyed the hastily put together plan. He said nothing, only stared at her.

"Do you know where you are?" she asked.

John just looked back at her.

"We know you understand Earth-English as you have been recorded using it, so please answer us," she told him brusquely.

John cocked his head as he contemplated a possible answer.

"Why did you break into the Tyler residence and steal key codes for the Torchwood building? Is there something you need?"

Well at least they believed in benevolent. He hummed thoughtfully.

"If you do not cooperate we will be forced to detain you as a prisoner," she sighed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

John rolled his eyes visibly, "talk about pushy," he grumbled.

"Ah, so he does speak," Rose smiled victoriously.

His short lived ruse was up, sort of. Oh well. Never mind. "Yeah, he does," he muttered, cricking his neck slightly.

"Do you mind answering some questions for us?" Rose asked, bringing out a clipboard and giving a look to her father over her shoulder.

"That's an option?" John retorted but not sarcastically. He smiled at them, letting them know he was joking.

Rose looked down at the sheet before her and took out a pen; she sat down in the plastic chair beside his bed. "Okay," she murmured skimming the list in front of her. "Is this your original form or are you a shapeshifting organism blending in?"

"This is my original form," he answered, still looking around curiously. He wasn't lying technically, he hadn't shifted form _yet_.

"How long have you been on Earth?" she asked as she marked down his answer, not looking at him.

John thought carefully, "about twenty nine hours and fifteen minutes, I arrived about ten thirty yesterday morning I think," he told them. He craned to look at the clipboard held just out of his sight.

"How did you arrive?" she asked, tilting the board away. Jeez, this was very formal!

"Sort of crash landed, an accidental transmat," he answered. It was close to the truth wasn't it?

"Are there any more of your species present?"

"Nope, they were as shocked as I was," he grinned and bounced slightly.

"Can you identify your species and name, please?" She flipped the page on the clipboard, satisfied with the first set of questions.

John made a clucking sound with his tongue and looked to the side, "Er, not really. Not meant to and all that. I'd get in a lot of trouble," he mumbled guiltily. "I'm only a kid after all."

Surprisingly they didn't pressure him. "Do you come from this galaxy? Where is your planet of origin?"

He beamed at them all, "that's me! Home grown Milky Way, as with all other humanoids!"

"Planet of origin?" She looked up at him quickly.

"Can't really tell you that either," he said slowly. "Don't look at me like that! I'm not even meant to be here!" he whined.

"You possess sonic technology; have your race achieved interstellar travel?"

"Yes'm!" Not to mention time travel...

"You possess a bivascular physiology which we know links to another planet in the Milky Way. Are you from the planet Gallifrey?" She examined him carefully as she said this.

Now that was a loaded question. He'd have to lie and, like his father, he lied like a champion. "Nope. Never heard of it," he replied, puzzled.

"What are your intentions on this planet? Why did you break into the Tyler home?" Pete Tyler asked from the other side of the room.

John looked at him coolly for a second, a glare taught by his father. Then a smile cracked his features, "purely accidental and mildly touristy. Information suggested that you were the head of the homeworld security unit of this world, only rating five on the galactic scale. If I was going to find any way to get home you guys would have the technology," he replied easily.

"Why not ask us for help?"

"Do you know your own reputation?" John laughed, "Besides, it's species policy. No more contact than absolutely necessary."

"Secretive? Got something to hide?"

"No, just wary. We've been in a lot of wars," John looked away, his father's memories flashed before his eyes.

There was a small silence after he spoke. Maybe he'd given too much away?

"Why do you require the technology?" Pete Tyler continued.

"Well, due to whatever happened I am here alone without a way of contacting my ship or family. I just wanted to make a device to allow me to transmat back or contact someone. Nothing serious," he replied, allowing a smile to creep back onto his face.

Rose flipped through the papers on the clipboard before signing the bottom. Clearly the interview was over. "What now?" he asked as she got to her feet.

"Well despite the fact your refuse to offer identification the People's Republic are prepared to offer you aid, under supervision of course," she told him in an official voice. "However we must ask for a return in trade."

"A what?" he asked, cocking his head again.

"Basically, we need some information in exchange for help. That sort of thing," she elaborated. John smiled when he noticed she'd slipped into a broader accent. She was beginning to trust him.

"Fair enough I suppose," he mumbled, pretending to think about it carefully. "I do have one request, though."

"What is it? I make no promises you understand," Pete asked as he moved closer.

John grinned at him, "Can I have my clothes back? There should be two sets in your house not to mention what I was brought in. This hospital stuff is so demeaning," he complained with a laugh.

"That we can do," Rose chuckled, moving toward the door.

"Am I going to stay here?" he called after her. "You can't really keep me in a hospital right? What if everyone else finds out?" He was grabbing at straws.

Pete nodded, straightening his shirt cuffs. "Don't worry, everything is in hand. You'll be moved this evening." He, too, moved to leave.

"To the Torchwood building like a prisoner?" John asked, unable to keep the dread out of his voice and twitching anxiously.

"No," Pete replied, looking at him over his shoulder. "I think it only fitting that the man that saved the life of my granddaughter at the potential cost of his own is treated slightly better than that. Provided you share similar human habits of eating and living you will be residing in the Tyler mansion until further notice."

"I'm going to live where?" John asked incredulously as, both smiling, father and daughter left him alone in the room.

----

So? How was it? Not too many mistakes I hope (I haven't had time to beta it...)

Please review and feed the ego!

Love you all!

- D


	4. Part IV Building and Conversing

Hey folks! I'm back! I went away to a friends for awhile so I couldn't update but here I am again! Hope you like the new chapter!

Okay, just something I need to say. Saw Waters of Mars. Was awesome and slightly scary! What was up with him? (If you know what I'm on about feel free to PM me about it!)

Anywho! On with the show!

Allons-y!

-------

**Part IV - Building and Conversing**

The soldiers came at ten o'clock that evening, four big men with big guns. But to John's senses they were at least friendly, even if they didn't actually trust him. Much to his relief his homeless clothes and his suit were returned to him and he promptly redressed in a mismatch of the both. Thankfully his converse weren't even splattered with blood. He'd done an inventory the moment they were returned, of course, to check that Torchwood were honouring their word. To his surprise they were.

He felt nervous as he was bundled into the back of an old Land Rover jeep with Rose sitting beside him. Something was wrong with this. They shouldn't be so trusting. Or maybe they just thought he needed closer watching? Either way he was worried about his disguise. What if he couldn't maintain it? She was never meant to know...ever.

So they returned to that enormous house that John had been slightly in awe of. It was dark now and quiet. The children were asleep and the dog lazed by the fire. Most of the servants had also gone home. John was placed in a different room this time, a guest room, and quickly settled in. He'd get a tour the next day, they said, after everyone went to work and the children went to school. He wouldn't go to Torchwood immediately but he would get access to materials.

This Torchwood did seem honestly alien friendly. He sensed they could turn nasty but wouldn't. He guessed he could attribute that to his dad's influence, strong even now.

The moment they left him to his own devices he began disassembling the electronic appliances in his room to see if he could use any of the parts. He'd need to make a resonator, a stabiliser and probably a communicator. He couldn't make a vessel to cross through the gap without being discovered, he'd have to leave that up to his dad, but he could at least help. Also if he built all the parts separately they might not find out what he was up to quite so quickly.

He didn't want to hurt anyone after all. He was lying and deceiving but it was for a good reason.

His sonic pen flashed into his hand as he carefully took apart the phone and a nearby lamp. Carefully he rearranged the wires into a new pattern and reconfigured them. There was only a little he could do with what was available right this second but at least he could make a start. Also he wasn't due to sleep for another four days so he might as well fill the time. It was going to be a long night.

When a person focuses and works hard they tend to lose track of the outside world. This is especially strong in the case of Time Lords and their chronic problem of completely missing life's little problems in favour of the bigger picture. John had sunk into a world of equations and wires and quantum temporal physics. He missed the sun rising and the servants stirring. Missed the slam of a car door that signalled the departure of the human self of his father, missed the sounds of Jack, the eldest child, going to school. It was only the laughter of Donna and the dog Verity, as well as footsteps coming down the hall in his direction, that alerted him to the world once more.

Hastily he shoved his electronics back into his pockets and hid the evidence. He lay back on the head and turned his head to the door as Rose knocked and entered. "You're awake," she greeted with a small smile and some surprise. His ever reliable internal clock informed him that it was about eight thirty.

"Ah yes," he replied promptly. "I don't sleep."

She paused, eyebrows raised, "you're nocturnal?" she asked.

"No, I have naturally higher levels of dopamine and adrenaline in my brain and circulatory system. Due to the higher chemical efficiency and use of brain space I need to sleep a lot less," he elaborated with a wave of his hand.

"Oh," Rose replied and stared at him.

Feeling awkward he coughed and looked away, scratching the back of his neck.

"Sorry," Rose exclaimed when she realised she was staring, "you just seem oddly familiar." She shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose, clearly stressed. She wiped the expression away and smiled at John, "it's been agreed that, until an exact course of action is decided, you can work out of my father's study. I trust you know where that is?"

John allowed himself to flush with embarrassment, "Yeah I think so," he laughed. "What kind of equipment do you have?" he asked after a second.

"We've had some Jathar communicators brought in. We also have what we think is a Threll motherboard and some other knickknacks. Arrived just now," she told him, gesturing for him to stand up.

John nodded; there were parts he could use there. It would be difficult but the task was definitely doable. Proximity to the rift would still be a problem.

The office itself was spacious, just as he remembered, but a great space had been cleared away for him to work in. It had tools and circuits and spare parts everywhere. John whistled appreciatively as he picked up some of the pieces available. They'd definitely had alien help with some of these. He took a seat and spread the items out before him thoughtfully.

"I'm going to need some paper," he told Rose as he took off his jacket, revealing his white shirt and red tie. He rolled up the sleeves and moved to put his black glasses.

Rose nodded and left the room briefly to get it. John knew he was being watched even as she left the room. His hand itched to reach for his sonic pen but he couldn't' use it too much here. Couldn't look too much like his dad.

The paper slid in front of him with a pencil when Rose silently returned and took a nearby seat to watch him. "What are you building?" she asked curiously as his hands began to sketch.

"A Deathstar."

"Excuse me?"

He laughed and chewed the pencil thoughtfully as his brain began to cobble together the equations. "I'm thinking of building a sonic resonator or subquantum sequencer," he replied as he noted down the numbers. He scratched the side of his head habitually, scribbling away.

"What do they do?" Rose asked as she craned to see his drawing.

Obligingly he showed it to her with a smile, "tell my family that I'm lost and they need to come get me," he laughed.

"Oh," she hummed and sat back, fiddling idly with her hair. "You have family?"

"Yes, yes I do," he replied grandly. "My dad and older sister. She is such a pain!" He glanced up when she laughed.

"I think that's the obligation of a sister," she explained and smiled easily. "What about your mother?"

John hands froze over the machine he was just beginning to take apart, he couched slightly. This was awkward because technically she was sort of his mother. Yet she wasn't because others had raised him. Best to answer how he'd always answered. "I, ah, don't really have one," he muttered tightly.

"Oh, does your species reproduce without a second gender?" Rose asked in confusion, leaning back on her chair slightly.

"No, it's not that," he shook his head and forced his hands to resume their work. "My mother's...gone. Dad lost her a long time ago. I've never known her." He coughed again and moved back to work. It wasn't emotion that chocked him, it was the awkward conversation.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Rose gasped and immediately looked guilty.

He looked up and smiled at her, hiding the emotion and feeling behind the smile. "Don't worry!" he chuckled, "I get it all the time." He shrugged and scratched his neck, "I did sort of have a mother, a few friends of my father who helped out. That sort of thing. Don't think I missed much to be honest."

"You look familiar," Rose said suddenly.

"Pardon?" he asked, feigning confusion, looking up at her.

"That look on your face, like you know it hurts but you hide it and tell the world you're fine. I've seen it before," she looked away embarrassed. "Sorry, didn't mean to pry."

"We all have our coping mechanisms," he replied quietly. He really need to break the tension, he realised as he began fusing wires. "What about your family?" he asked, trying to move onto an easier topic.

"Mine?"

"Yeah? Wasn't it your spawn I grabbed out of the road yesterday?" he looked at her over his glasses.

"Spawn?" she choked, laughing.

"Sorry, I'm not translating right am I? You should try assimilating a language, I tell you!" He acted mock offended and was happy when she laughed.

"I see," she said, raising an eyebrow. "Yes, she was mine. Her name's Donna, she's four. I have a son Jack, who's six. He's at school. I've been married to my husband Jonathan for about seven years," she explained and he could see the love she held for him in her eyes.

"Seven years huh? That's a long time. Where'd you two meet?" he grunted as he forced a conduit into position.

"You wouldn't believe me," she smiled shaking her head and dislodging her blonde hair.

"Come on," he beamed, dusting the front of his shirt, "I'm an alien from outer space, crash landed and building a suped up mobile phone. Who has a less believable story?" He looked at her kindly, genuinely interested. His hands had long ago begun to move on automatic.

"We met on a beach in Norway as the first man I loved sort of left us there to try and pick up the pieces of our lives," she said simply. That wasn't how John would've put it. Ouch.

"Really? What a jerk," he commented truthfully, allowing his hands to fiddle.

"No, it was necessary, a necessary cruelty you might say," she nodded and he wondered whether she was trying to convince him or herself. "Nevertheless, we fell in love and eight years later here we are."

"Living a life day after day," he agreed. "One of the greatest adventures." He noted the silence and looked up at her innocently, "what did I say?" he asked when he noticed her staring at him as if he had two noses.

"Nothing. I knew someone who used to say that all the time, that's all," she swallowed and looked away.

"Oh sorry! Didn't mean to do anything," he mumbled guiltily.

There was an awkward silence.

"What does your father do?" Rose asked after a moment, to ease the conversation.

"Oh, he's a bodger. That's the right word I think. He fixes this and that for whoever wants it," John shrugged. That was pretty accurate, he thought.

"Like a freelancer?" Rose inquired.

"Exactly so," John agreed with a smile.

Just like that they eased back into easy conversation that would last the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon. In fact it lasted until dinner that night, after the children were long asleep. Rose Tyler would never have put this strange alien as anyone threatening and she was good at identifying liars. However there was something he wasn't saying. She was determined to find out what it was.

But no good ruse lasts forever.

It was only at dinner that anyone noticed that John wasn't quite what he implied. Weirdly it was Jackie Tyler who noticed first, not because she was especially observant but because John and Jonathan had the bad luck to be seated next to each other. They'd traded a look of agreement over his concealment and had been edgy for some time. But the closer they were the more apparent it became that they were very, very similar.

Jackie all but screamed and everyone at the table jumped round. "What is it, sweetheart?" Pete asked in utter confusion, standing to go to his wife.

"They look the same," Jackie squeaked, gesturing between John and Rose's husband.

"Sort of similar I guess," Jonathan shrugged.

"It's more than that," Rose said slowly, examining them with a critical eye. "You're almost identical, only a little bit different!" She was almost shouting. The two looked at each other.

"Coincidental?" John remarked hopefully, beginning to slowly back up.

"I travelled with the Doctor long enough to know the coincidences are never what they seem," Rose replied, standing also and advancing on the retreating boy. "Who are you? You refuse to tell us and stupidly we believe you, why is that?"

"It's my natural born psychic-empathic field exacerbated by a foreign sun," John replied before he could stop himself.

"Pardon?" Pete turned to look at him, concern in his eyes.

"It's the face," he sighed rolling his eyesbefore he could stop himself. "Some of us are hypnotic, some of us can rewrite and sift through memories and I just appear trustworthy to anyone I meet. Until I'm proved untrustworthy people instinctively believe me and want to be friendly to me. It won't work on you lot now of course, you've all got suspicious of me after all. It's a natural thing though. I don't have any control over it, it just sort of happens alright?" He shrugged and moved to get out of his chair.

"Sit!" Rose commanded.

John sat quickly.

She turned to Jonathan, "well?" she asked in a clipped tone.

"What?" he retorted, holding his hands up defensively.

"You know something, I know you do. You two have been shifty all dinner and one of you is going to start talking," she growled. They both swallowed. "Well?" She looked at the two of them again.

"It's complicated," Jonathan began and John face palmed.

When Jonathan looked at him, curious as to the interruption, John replied; "way to tell her there was something going on, idiot!"

----

So what did you think? Like it? Hate it? Let me know!

Please review and feed the ego!

Love y'all!

- D


	5. Part V Memories

Hey there! I'm back! Sorry I've been away, I got Assassins Creed II on friday and have just spent who knows how long playing it. I think I'm beginning to get hedaches...

Anywho on with the chapter!

Allons-y!

----

**Part V - Memories**

"Dad," Rose called, turning to her father and her stunned mother. "Get the glove." Pete left the extravagant dining room at once and John noted he turned left towards his office.

"Rose," Jonathan immediately protested, "I don't think that's wise. You don't know-"

"Exactly, I intend to find out," Rose cut him off and folded her arms. "Everyone ready?" she asked the humans present. Jackie nodded and Pete inclined his head as he moved behind John, much to John's annoyance.

"What exactly is the glov-" He never finished because as he spoke he felt had hand covered in something cold touch the back of his head gently. His vision swam and everything went dark, horribly dark. For a second he was floating in a sea of nothingness, no light or sound or movement. Gradually, however, sounds came to him. The familiar clunk language of the TARDIS, whispers of the songs of his father and sister. Familiar every day things he heard all the time at home.

But he wasn't at home.

Abruptly there was metal grill plating beneath his feet and he was bathed in the light blue light of the Time Rotor. He shook his head to clear it and glanced around. His father wasn't with him so he wasn't waking up from a dream. This place also echoed with compressed song, like his Memory Room. This was part of his mind. Or so he guessed. Sort of like a default setting.

"This is the TARDIS," an incredulous voice said loudly and he whirled around to find himself confronted with the Tylers. It was Jackie Tyler who spoke of course.

"What did you do?" he shouted, a bit of anger in his voice.

"The glove tunes into the minds of beings which a higher psychic value than basic seven," Rose told him coolly. "It projects memories, thoughts and knowledge to those around them. Now you can't lie to us." She suddenly flickered, melding with the memories of her John had from his father, he shook his head to make it stop.

"So you do know me," she said, eyes cold. It appears she didn't like the fact he'd lied.

"Yes," he admitted looking down. He realised that in his mind he'd automatically clothed himself in what he wore every day. Great, he looked even more like his father.

"How do you know me?" she asked, coming closer and almost reaching out to touch his face, tracing his freckles.

"It's complicated," he supplied happily. He rubbed his tufty hair and put his hands in his pockets. He rocked back on his heels. "Very hard to explain."

"Then how do you know the TARDIS?"

"This is my brain's default setting. Like the background you have on a computer. My mind associates this with home and so my mindscape will always look like this."

"This is your home?"

"Well it is the only home I've ever known."

Rose pulled something out of her pocket, a weird sort of remote, and looked at her father out of the corner of her eye. "This is the remote for the glove, using this I can extract certain memories related to specific words," she told him.

"Oh?"

"Yes, it may hurt." This worried John and he was more than a little apprehensive but, before he could protest, she had pressed a small button on the small disc and said a single word. "Father" she intoned.

The TARDIS around this shook and suddenly was filled with a million voices talking at once. John gripped the sides of his head, growling in pain. He could feel his memories sifting, the device forcing him to search for one of his earliest and fondest memories. He cried out as if was forced into the forefront.

The room around them shimmered and changed shape. It became somewhat different. The TARDIS now contained a cradle. All eyes turned, dumbstruck to it as the sound of a baby crying filled the room. John gazed soundlessly as Rose approached the cradle formed of coral and looked in. She gasped, "It's a baby," she told them.

"Well of course, this is sort of my memory," he said impatiently, tapping his foot and scuffing the ground.

"This is you?" Jackie asked, peering over Rose's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm only fifteen hours old," he replied easily, also approaching. He looked into his own eyes, which was a bit weird, and waited for what he knew was coming next. This was his memory after all.

"Fifteen hours?" Jackie asked incredulously as a man came sprinting into the room from a door that had materialised at the side. They all recognised the skinny man in a suit with his dark hair and unsteady gait.

The Doctor reached in the cradle, going through Rose like a ghost to do so, and scooped the baby out. Holding him as if he'd done it a thousand times and rocking him against his shoulder. "See," he shushed the baby, "daddy's back, I'm here." The tone was gentle but not patronising.

The Doctor proceeded to pace away around the TARDIS, still rocking his son, and twiddled a few knobs and buttons. He spoke gently to the baby, the words muffled as John couldn't quite recall them. He grinned at the baby and it laughed, waving its arms happily. Gradually the image faded.

There was a flickering before it was replaced by a new image or set of images. The lights in the TARDIS grew brighter and there was suddenly the laughter of a child in the air. John, a two year old John anyway, suddenly shifted into being running on small legs around the TARDIS's control hub. His young self whooped as he was lifted from behind by the Doctor, who'd been chasing him, and tossed into the air. Those long familiar arms caught the toddler and held him close to the Doctor as they both grinned happily.

There was then another image of John and his father at a piano. Then another of Martha teaching him about human medicine as the Doctor explained his own unique biology. Images of Sarah Jane also swirled, smoke like, around them. His third birthday and Christmas flashed into existence briefly as well, times of laughter and happiness. In another image Donna stood over him, punishing him because his dad hadn't the heart to. In another memory she hugged him close, telling him everything would be alright – there was nothing to fear. In a blink all his memories of his father rippled before them. That glove truly did not allow him any secrets.

"The Doctor is your father?" Rose asked after a long moment, looking at him.

"Yes," he said simply, shoving his hands in his pockets. "When I said I didn't know Gallifrey I was sort of lying. I've never actually been there, I was born mid-flight, but I guess I am from there." He looked away guiltily.

"And you're from the parallel world, I take it?" Pete inquired, still trying to get over the shock.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Had a bit of an accident with the rift in Cardiff," John muttered, trying to edge away and not appear at all responsible.

"You said you didn't have a mother," Rose continued, looking at the floor. "Who was she?"

"What?" John's head snapped up, they'd lost his attention as he gazed around the room.

"You said to me that you had a father and a sister - an older sister even - but you said your mother was gone," she repeated, eyes narrowed on him.

"That's a bit hard to explain-" he started but abruptly stopped. "It's impossible to explain. I don't have a mother in the traditional sense of the word."

Rose could tell he was keeping something from her and she hadn't even started to interrogate her husband. She held up the remote and her husband's hand suddenly covered hers. "Don't," he pleased, looking into her eyes. "Please don't."

Slowly, still looking at him, she pressed the button and said "mother."

The room shuddered again and John's hands were once more tearing at his hair in pain. Panels of the TARDIS around them flew up and wires sprawled out as it recreated an early memory. Lights dimmed and clattered, there was a snatch of song. John almost fell to his knees.

"Daddy?" a high voice asked from behind them.

They turned to see the cot formed of coral once more. The baby was not crying any more, he was a little larger and a lot more alert. A few months John thought, at least nine. He was sitting up and fiddling with his dark hair in a contemplatory manner. John smiled as he noted he was wearing a blue baby grow with TARDISes on it.

"Yes?" the Doctor replied from where he was half concealed in the TARDIS floor, obviously fixing something. To John he was in a familiar state of disarray, hair messy and clothes slightly dirty. There were parts everywhere as usual.

Baby John chewed on his lip for a second. "Who my mummy?" he asked after a second.

The Doctor's head jerked up and his hands stopped. A pained expression came on his face. "It's complicated, John," he said finally.

"You explain?" Baby John cocked his head in a very Doctor-like fashion.

"Well," the Doctor hedged and slowly got out the great. He moved to lean against the TARDIS panel next to the cot and look at the ceiling. "As you know we, Time Lords, are Loomed by TARDISes, that's how you were born. And me in fact! Usually the DNA of two Time Lords would be woven but, until you, I was the last of our kind."

"So how happen?" John asked, concentration on his little brow. He knew his smaller self just about understood, just. Not very much though.

"Well the TARDIS sort of did it without telling me," the Doctor told him and his son smiled in recognition of the TARDIS's attitude. "She used mostly my DNA, nine hundred and ninety nine thousandths! But that would've made you a clone, she's not designed for DNA recombination after all, so she used a thousandth she had stored in her little data banks."

"Oh," the baby replied, still thinking hard. "So who my mummy?"

The Doctor looked down at the floor, "well the definition of 'mother' is a secondary caring parent and we don't' have one of those but you do have a biological mother. Sort of. She contributed to your make up after all, even if it was on a minute scale. She was a human actually. Don't look like that," he laughed at the look of distaste on John's face. "Her name was Rose."

"Where she now?"

The curiosity of children can be cruel and this was John's first lesson in things not to ask around his father. "She's gone," the Doctor said shortly and John frowned. Then a familiar grin set over the Doctor's worn features and he reached over to scoop out the toddle and hold him close. "All this standing still is making me itch," he mused, rubbing his chin with one hand while he held his son in the other. "What say you to Penhaxico II?" The image dissolved into smoke as the memory shattered.

There was a very awkward silence.

"Yeah," John muttered, looking away and folding his arms.

"You're my son?" she asked incredulously.

"Sort of, the relation is more like a distant relative but yeah," he shrugged, still not meeting their shocked gaze.

"When were you born?" she asked, stepping forward. Jackie and Pete followed her.

John could see a begging in her eyes. She was hoping he was born after the Daleks returned, hoping that she hadn't been lied to. They were busted, well and truly. He looked over her shoulder into his human-dad's eyes. His human-dad, Jonathan Tyler, nodded. He sighed, "Just after the fall of Torchwood when you fell through the Void. Not long after my dad met Donna for the first time," he told her quietly.

"And when I returned, when the Daleks came back, how old were you then?" she pressed.

John closed one eyes as he thought back. He hadn't considered those times in ears. A decision is a decision after all. "I was six," he replied easily, looking into her eyes.

She rounded on Jonathan, "and you never told me?" she growled angrily.

"I couldn't," he replied simply, looking away. "We decided it was better you didn't know." He coughed uncomfortably.

Rose's eyes, not to mention Jackie's, bulged with rage. "Who decided?" she exclaimed.

"I can show you if you like, no remote needed?"

She turned like an angry wolverine back to John , he'd faced his sister's wrath many times and he was not afraid. "Do it," she commanded.

It wasn't painful when he willed it. The room around them was suddenly filled with people and they all recognised it as their victory flight away from the remains of the Dalek Crucible. But there was no sound, everything was on mute and the faces of Donna, the Doctor and Jonathan in the crowd were very serious.

A sort of focusing took place and suddenly it was just those three standing in an endless plain of whiteness, gazing at each other but not speaking. "Where are we?" Pete asked, looking around quickly.

"This is a sort of in-between space where telepathic conversations are held," Jonathan told them, glancing around lazily. "It's quite common."

There was a shimmering and a six year old boy appeared before them. John was very young here, he was wearing dinosaur pyjamas and his face was child-solemn.

Jonathan chuckled and they all turned to look at him, "when I see this," he said, gesturing to John, "I remember how small you were. You've grown very tall," he explained.

John laughed, "Yeah. I had good genes for that."

Donna, the Doctor, Jonathan and John were clearly talking about something but the words were muffled. They couldn't be heard properly. The conversation was clearly heated because on Jonathan's face there was a look of desperation.

"What's going on? Why can't we hear them?" Jackie asked, moving closer as if that would help.

"Because I don't want you to," John replied, "there are some things that it is better you don't hear but I will tell you the general gist. This is when it was decided."

"What was decided?" This was from Rose.

"That I stay with Dad and don't go with you."

"You did that even as we celebrated?" she asked.

"Of course, it was important," Jonathan told her, taking her hand.

"And you just decided that I should never know, that he should leave with the Doctor?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes," he replied looking down.

"Why?"

"Because, as a human in a parallel universe, you couldn't offer me anything." They all turned to John wide eyed at his blunt statement. "Point one: I am one of the last of my kind and I have a duty to uphold, a legacy if you will. Point B, or two: You two are human and I would outlive you by at least one thousand years, is it fair that I watch you die? No. Point C, or three, or III: Dad would've been left alone and I would never have that." He looked away and swallowed for the hardest point, "lastly, point four: you aren't _my_ mother. You are _a _mother but not _mine_."

"What?" she had tears in her eyes now.

"Don't cry, I didn't mean to make you cry," he said desperately. "Look, I've had to justify this for years okay? For years I had to tell myself that it was okay; I didn't need a mother. I was fine. It was hard not having a mother of my own and it was just me and dad for ages. But then I met Sarah Jane and Martha Jones and the marvellous Donna Noble and I had a mother. Hell I had three! I needed you when I was two or four but not now."

"The Doctor wanted you to be happy," Jonathan added, "and that meant getting over him. John would've been a constant reminder of him, would've held us apart."

"So you just said nothing," Rose asked, tears drying.

"It was better that way. I had a duty to my species and my culture, I had a legacy to continue," John shrugged and looked to his younger self. The smaller image of him moved to stand next to his father, the Doctor, and slowly took the man's hand, smiling up at him. The Doctor smiled back. The image faded.

"You said you have an older sister," Rose said after a moment, still struggling with the information. "How was she born?"

"Well, technically she's not my _older_ sister, just more physically mature. She's only four or five really, I think," he hummed as he thought, rubbing his chin. "Same story as me except on another planet, genetic recombination and grow, except she was birthed at adolescent stage by a machine designed for that purpose and not the TARDIS hashing bits together," he laughed. "Dad was ecstatic after we found her again."

"Jenny's alive?" Jonathan asked, a grin on his face.

"Delayed regeneration, she's a-kicking. Literally," John replied with an identical expression. "Dad couldn't believe it! I don't think he thought he'd have more than one kid again."

"Again?" Jackie asked, her expression dark. She didn't like this situation, John could tell.

"Dad's had kids before, back on Gallifrey," John supplied, expression quieter. He looked down at the floor, "we dream them sometimes."

"He had children?" Rose asked, shocked. He'd never told her that. Mentioned it in passing once but she'd thought he was only joking.

"Yeah, he was married. He was even a grandfather. They burned with Gallifrey," John continued as Jonathan looked away uncomfortably. "It was hard for him to be a father again, painful."

"You 'dream' them?'"

John looked at Pete expressionlessly. "All Time Lords are telepathic and when we sleep, two hours a week usually, we can share our dreams and memories. Mostly we do it on a subconscious level." As John spoke suddenly there were three figures sprawled on the seats of the TARDIS. The Doctor was there, head back and mouth slightly open in sleep. Jenny was leaning against his left side with her head on his shoulder, also snoozing. John was across their laps with one arm over his eyes. All of them were clearly not awake.

"What's this?" Pete asked, moving closer to examine them.

"A memory."

"But you're asleep," he argued, "you don't remember what happens when you sleep do you?"

"No, this is a collective memory derived from the TARDIS," John replied, smiling at the Time Rotor fondly.

"The ship?"

"She is alive you know, we share memories when we sleep." Suddenly the world around them became a blur as they left the TARDIS again and red grass was beneath their feet. A burnt orange sky rolled overhead and wind chimes were on the air, just on the edge of the wind they could hear laughter. They were surrounded by towering mountains capped with snow and beautiful silver trees.

"Where are we?" Jackie asked, swivelling quickly and gripping Pete's arm.

"This is Gallifrey," Jonathan told her, looking around.

There were voices behind them speaking a language they couldn't quite understand and they turned to see a group of people standing off to one side, all of them were smiling and looked quite different. There were three men and five women that they somehow knew were siblings and spouses, a subtle psychic suggestion from John, as well as what could be assumed to be spouses. Four children ran around them in circles. Slightly in front of them looking directly at John and the Tylers stood the Doctor in a dress down form of his suit, shirt and slacks only. He was also smiling. Next to him, laughing and waving, was Jenny.

"That's my family," John told them. "My dad had three sons, one daughter, one wife and four grandchildren. All of them burned in the Cataclysm." He looked directly at them. "You may judge what dad and I chose but here-" he looked around as he broke off choked.

John felt tears in his eyes; it was much harder to hide emotions in the mind after all. "Here," he continued, "I can at least _see_ them and know that I am not alone. I will never be able to touch them, to love them, laugh with them or hug them. But here I can _know_ them. I can know that once, a very long time ago, I had a family. Once I would've have been John Smith, fourth son of the Doctor and child of Gallifrey." He shuffled his shoes.

He suddenly smiled, "This is my favourite dream," he told Rose leaning in and grinning like a Time Lord she knew so well.

He waved back at the image as it vanished and they returned, regular as clockwork, to the TARDIS in his mind. "Now we've examined the inside of my head and my rather questionable mental health can we please go back to the dining room? I'm getting tired."

"Oh, sorry," Rose replied guiltily and suddenly there they were.

They stared at him.

He sighed. "Please don't give me pity looks. You didn't give the Doctor any! Especially you, Jackie Tyler!" he laughed at the looks on their faces. "We're fine and we always will be."

A strange beeping suddenly filled the room and John began to rifle through his pockets excitedly. He pulled out what looked like a mobile phone covered in wires, the canabalised remains of the electronics in the guest room fused with the work of the entire morning. The device beeped and sputtered, the pattern of which was regular and repeating.

"What is that?" Pete asked staring at it.

"Interdimensional wave emitter on a krexiconian wavelength," John replied, holding it up to his ear and twiddling it.

"A what now?" Jackie sighed.

"An outer-space walkie-talkie," John told her rolling his eyes. "It's finally working!"

"What does it do?" Rose asked.

"It transmits his position across the Void to the Doctor using the fracture in the Torchwood building," Jonathan said, examining it from afar. "That really is beautiful work," he praised John.

John grinned and scratched the back of his neck with embarrassment, "thanks," he mumbled.

"So the Doctor knows where you are?" Pete leaned over the boy's shoulder to look at the machine closely.

"Better than that, he's actually coming. That's a coded keta reply, he's going to travel the Void," John said gleefully, looking up at him and literally dancing on the spot.

"I thought travel between parallel worlds was impossible?" Rose asked, he could tell she was feeling cheated.

"It is, or was. Without the original core stabilisation you need two identical situations and rifts, Time Lord this side and Time Lord that side you see? He didn't have that before. I don't think it'll work when I'm gone either," he put the object back in his pocket. "Does also help that I built a rift stabiliser to help him through. No idea where he'll come out though..."

"So you just need to activate and he can come back?"

"Please," John snorted. "I turned in on this morning while we were talking."

They all stared at him.

"It did help that Pete carried a remote rift stabiliser to feed the code back to it to work this morning, allowing me to synchronise with the rift. I had to improvise you see."

"When will he get here?" Rose was holding in emotion.

"He's already on his way."

"How do you know?"

John tapped his temple knowingly.

"Where will he appear?"

"Hard to know," John mused, rubbing his chin and looking very like the Doctor. "Probably where he came out last time. Where was that? Where did the hole come through?" He looked at the curiously.

"Norway," Jackie blurted. "Dalig Ulf Stranden."

John roared with laughter, "Bad Wolf Bay!" He paused, hands in his pockets and smile on his face. "Well, I guess I'll be off them. It was nice meeting all of you!" He moved to stride though the door.

"Hold on, mister," Rose commanded, he froze of course. "You're just going to go to Norway by yourself?"

"That's the plan."

"Any idea how you're getting there?"

"Not really...just thought I'd make it up as I go along. What?" John asked as Rose rolled her eyes and dragged him out the room by his collar.

She sighed, "come on, alien boy, we'll give you a lift." She swore the boy was just as bad as his father. She felt her heart clench. Her time with the Doctor was over and she could be cruel and make this true for John as well. The Doctor shouldn't have hidden this from her! Yet looking at him she could not complain, he had grown tall and proud. He didn't need her. Her children, however, did.

She smiled. The Doctor had made her happy ending. It was time for her to make his. Behind her Jonathan Tyler grinned. Everything was going to be alright.

---

So? What did you think? Good? Bad? Terrible? Just drop me a line and feed the pathetic ego!

Love ya all!

- D


	6. Part VI I Need Him

HI! I'm sorry I've been away so long but uni just sort of happened to me again and I really shouldn't even be doing this so ssssssh....(glances around shiftily)

Thanks for the reviews! I feel I should answer some of the questions though, since I have been puting it off a bit...

**Terrorist of the Seven Seas: **No I didn't make up the 12 times thing, it's actually cannon with the series and is mentioned quite a lot by all the Doctors. So when Tennant-Doctor says he's going to die it's almost true since he only has one regeneration left. The Doctor has done a previous 'internal' regeneration when he didn't change forms so that puts him at 11...he only has one more regeneration left before it's all over. NUUUUUU!

Also! Thanks for the general reviews!

Right, on with the chapter!

Allons-y!

---

**Part VI - I Need Him**

The feeling in his stomach couldn't possibly be described properly. Suddenly it cramped and he felt bile rise in his throat. His hands were shaking, the blood draining from his face. He tried desperately to think what he could do. What he could change. Despair sank into his bones and his lips moved soundlessly. It was like some had carved his heart out with a serrated blade and drenched the wound in lemon juice. It burned.

"Dad," a voice called from his left, it sounded so very far away. It didn't matter.

"Dad!" the voice was more insistent and eventually he turned to look into the fearful brown eyes of his daughter. "What're we going to do, Dad? Is he gone?" There was panic in her voice and he could see she was feeling as much pain as he was.

He pressed a hand across his eyes and forcefully kicked his brain back into gear, back into thinking at thousands of lightyears a second. He glared at the space where his son had vanished a made a silent vow. He'd lost too many children and he was so very old now, he would not lose the one who taught him to love again. The one who taught him how to live again.

"Dad?" Jenny asked tentatively, sensing the growing mood.

"He's not gone, Jenny," he told her, "because we're going to bring him back. Captain!"

"Doctor," the American replied as he was instantly at the Time Lord's side. He'd never seen the Doctor like this and, frankly, it scared him.

"What kind of equipment do you have here?" the Doctor asked shortly as he glared at the now stable containment field.

"Only what you see," Jack replied, looking around to take a quick inventory.

The Doctor's eyes scanned the room critically before falling on the rift manipulator once more. "Not to many scavenged bits then. Jenny, move the TARDIS to the hub," he said without even looking at her. Jenny nodded and sprinted out the door.

"You trust her to move the TARDIS? I wasn't even aloud to touch the controls," Jack asked, surprised.

"You aren't a Time Lord, she's good enough to do the basics," the Doctor told him rubbing his chin. "We're going to have to make do. Do you have surveillance in here?"

"Of course," Tosh replied, already moving to her computer and bringing the various feeds up, "we like to know what we're doing after all."

"Bring up the footage of the containment field," the Doctor ordered as if he had all the authority in the world, his eyes were cold and his tone short.

Tosh did so without thinking and moved aside so the Doctor could examine the feed himself. He put on his glasses and squinted at the screen. He replayed the footage and switched the black glasses with a pair of strange cardboard 3D ones. "Yes!" he shouted, leaping backwards. Everyone else had jumped out of their skin.

"What is it?" Tosh asked, looking for whatever had caused such an exclamation.

"Stuff," the Doctor told her, "well, Void stuff. It's leaking into the hub. Coupled with the presence of neutrino particles and a sudden flux of temporal radiation I would say that we have interdimensional travel."

"I thought you said that was impossible," Jack asked, concern on his face.

"It is," the Doctor replied easily, "but I think what we have is recent rift disturbance resonating against a similar disturbance in a near identical universe causing a temporal funnel that pulls any temporal anomaly through. John just happened to be closest when the activity peaked."

"What does that mean?" Owen asked from the back.

"It means he's alive," shouted Jenny, who'd just come through the door. There was grin on her face and she flew into her father's arms and they hugged tightly. That was at least something.

"Does that mean you can bring him back?" Jack asked, also grinning.

"Not so easy," the Doctor grimaced breaking away. "We'd need a power source from our universe and two matching recepticals."

"But it is already resonating," Jenny pointed out, "if we left the field active and John built a similar device-"

"They'd move in tandem and generate a funnel field, a threshold! Jenny you're brilliant," the Doctor exclaimed with glee. "We'd also need to build a stabiliser into the TARDIS itself to make sure we could travel through but that should be easy enough to achieve. It's going to take what? A day?"

"If we both work on it," Jenny agreed excitedly, bouncing. "Can I work on the stabiliser?"

"Yes, make sure you fit it to the TARDIS properly," he shouted after her as she danced out the door. Distractedly he moved to grab what he needed from inside the Torchwood hub.

"Can you travel the same way he did?" Gwen asked, eyes still on the containment field.

"I could," the Doctor confirmed looking over his shoulder, "but it'd be a bumpy ride. If John's lucky he won't have been pushed out the other side too forcefully but I wouldn't count on it. Think magnet attracting paper-clip. It won't be pretty."

"But he's alright?"

"I don't know," the Doctor paused for a painful moment before resuming, "but I hope so. Hope springs eternal."

"Is there anything we can do?" Jack asked, placing a hand on the Doctor's shoulder, friendly but not flirting. Now was hardly the time.

"Tune the rift manipulator for me, that should take all four of you," the Doctor replied as he dumped his items on a work bench to begin.

"We'll find him, Doctor," Jack reassured him.

"Yeah," was all the Doctor said.

The day passed with a flurry of activity with the Doctor and Jenny leading the wave. They were in the TARDIS, out the TARDIS, tasking the rift manipulator apart or assembling a communicator. Sometimes all at the same time. They never seemed to stop and the Torchwood team had trouble just keeping up. No one really noticed how late in the evening it had become until Jenny slumped asleep against her desk. The Doctor glanced over, his expression softened and he did not move to wake her.

"She alright?" Jack asked from where he was threading wires together. "I don't think I've ever seen you sleep, I imagine she's much the same."

"You don't sleep?" Owen asked incredulously from where he was piling things together. He was also on his way out and would soon be nodding off.

"Of course we sleep, just not as much as humans is all," the Doctor told them as his hands continued to busily work, he didn't look up. "She's fine," he reassured Jack, "we're due our two hours a week tomorrow, the extra work and stress must have tired her out."

"She's really worried huh?" Jack paused and looked over at the girl, she looked a lot like the Doctor he noted. Very pretty and slender.

"Yeah," the Doctor laughed dryly. "It's funny, they fight like cats sometimes, really go at it you know? But they're as loyal as pitbulls and only a bit less angry."

"I can imagine that," Jack also laughed, glad to see some humour once more.

"Here," Gwen said as she offered the Doctor a cup of tea, which he enthusiastically took and sipped. She glanced down at the work near the Doctor's hands, seeing calculations and more than one burn on his fingers from the soldering iron. "You need to sleep too you know," she reminded him. "Alien or not. Tosh is already camped out upstairs and Ianto is down for the count. I think Owen's hot on his heels," she nodded to her slumped co-worker.

"I'm fine," he hedged, rubbing his eyes.

"Really?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"So I'm a little bit tired," he shrugged. "I can't stop now, not when I'm so close. I just can't." The glasses were back on and the speedy work resumed. Jack watched silently.

"You're really worried aren't you?" Gwen asked as she sat down next to him, also drinking her tea.

At first the Doctor said nothing, he just stared at his hands for a long moment. "You know," he said shakily, "I wasn't prepared for the whole fatherhood thing, TARDIS pulled a fast one on me. Suddenly I found myself with a newborn Time Tot and no way of really caring for him, let alone educating him." The Doctor laughed and shook his head.

"One of her moods?" Jack asked.

"Replicated my DNA on the fly," the Doctor replied, dabbing at a wire with his finger to make it stick down. "Like I said, I wasn't really ready to be a father but we got by, me and John. We made it all this time through those disasters and near-world-endings. Even found Jenny again. I thought we were invincible and then this happens!"

"It'll be alright," Jack murmured, trying to reassure him.

"Again?" Gwen asked, it was only then that Jack noticed the phrasing.

The Doctor looked up them, seemingly surprised they didn't know. "Well I did have children back on Gallifrey," he said quietly. "Technically you could say I have six children, four boys and two girls," he continued.

"Six?" Jack was now very surprised.

"Four of them are gone of course," the Doctor elaborated, blowing gently on a recently soldered wire. "Have you ever lost a child, Jack?"

Jack didn't quite know what to say, he coughed uncomfortably. "No," he said slowly, "not really. Didn't have a family of my own and my parents have long since gone."

The Doctor nodded, "mine too," he agreed. He then looked up at Jack with such a haunted look that it tore in Jack's very heart, "take it from me, Captain, losing a child is the most painful experience you will ever know. No parent should ever, _ever_ bury their children." There was an awkward silence. "Well, John's not dead so no worries there," he chuckled suddenly. "Sorry, sometimes old memories sneak up on me. I've had a while to get used to it. A couple of centuries is a long time after all."

"Centuries?" Gwen asked, "Exactly how long do you live, Doctor?"

"Oh, I'm nine hundred and thirteen. Feeling the pains of middle age," he smiled.

"How do you know that John is building the device you need?" Jack asked, curious as ever.

"Because he's my son and he's amazing," the Doctor told him with a grin. "Now you all go get some sleep, you're distracting me."

The work continued the next day and was only interrupted by a loud shout the next evening when a strange beeping came the communications device that Jenny had been working on. It was a series of clicks and tones that damn near indecipherable to anyone that wasn't Jenny or the Doctor – both of which were absolutely ecstatic.

"What the hell is that?" Owen bellowed as the noise began to reach intolerable levels.

"Message from the soldier in the field," Jenny called back as she danced over to the device and began fiddling with it.

"From John?" asked Gwen, moving to her side.

"Told you he was a genius," Jenny confirmed as she fought with the device, trying to get it to obey her will.

"Pass it here," the Doctor called, catching it when she threw it with ease. He pressed an ear against it and twiddled the dial. He growled in annoyance and pulled out the sonic screwdriver, after a few seconds of special attention still nothing had changed. "Come on," the Doctor shouted as he slammed it against the counter. Suddenly the signal died all together.

"Have we lost it?" Jenny asked as she jogged over.

"No, it's converting," the Doctor told her with a grin. Suddenly the device shuddered and a strange hologram appeared over it. It started off as a translucent glowing blue ball that seemed to squirm as if possessed. After a few seconds of movement it grew weird spikes that undulated slowly is a strange but repeating pattern. "Ah ha," the Doctor crowed triumphantly.

"What is it?" Tosh asked as she leaned close to examine it.

"It's a temporal vector," the Doctor explained, moving the dial to make the picture clearer.

"I've seen temporal vectors before and they've never looked like that," Jack commented as he leaned over the Doctor's shoulder.

"Well your lot only projected on four dimensions with vectoral practice instead of the forty two that John's projecting," the Doctor replied, carefully he put the machine on the counter and pulled out a stethoscope from his inside pocket.

"How can there be forty two?" Jack asked quickly.

"That's why the TARDIS is a sports car and your wrist strap is a space hopper," the Doctor told him, rolling his eyes. "It's Time Lord science, same sort of thing with the TARDIS being dimensionally transcendental. Multiple planes of existence and all that. John is actually broadcasting his exact parallel world, time frame and land mass coordinates."

"What are the other vectors?"

"If I'm not going to let you have a time travelling teleport I'm hardly going to let you have the Time Lord mechanics of time travel am I? Get a little perspective, Captain." The words were warning but the tone was much happier, the Doctor was getting back to his old self.

"How accurate is it?"

"Temporally it's likely to be spot on but geographically could be a bit out." He looked up at them, "what? He's doing pretty well!"

"Better yet," cut in Jenny happily, "if he's transmitting he's alive, well and in a place with sufficient technology for him to build his own stabiliser!"

"How long will it take for you to lock on to and get to him?" Jack asked as the Doctor listened to the device carefully with a stethoscope.

"About five minutes," the Doctor grinned as he scooped up the device and sprinted to the TARDIS, Jenny hot on his heels.

"Doctor," Gwen called after him.

The man pivoted and looked back over his shoulder questioningly.

"You take care," she warned him in her thick welsh accent. "You bring him back so we can see him too, hmm? We're worried you know."

The grin widened and the light was back in those dark brown eyes. "You just watch me, Gwen Cooper. You just watch me."

-----

Well that was short...Sorry....the next chapter is longer! I've already started it! Forward planning! YAY!

Anyway, tell me what you think! Please review! Uni work has crushed me and I need the support!

Love y'all!

- D


	7. Part VII In All Universes

Would ya look at that? Just in time for Christmas! There was a slight delay due to illness, stupid bug just won't leave! I hope it's up to scratch!

Do tell me what you think!

Enjoy!

Allons-y!

----

**Part VII - In All Universes**

Bad Wolf Bay was desolate and foreboding. The sky was steel grey and the waves crashed in a way that could be considered grumpy. They rolled and swirled almost as if something moved beneath them, stirring in slumber. Even the sand seemed dead, crunching and grating in a tired manner. The wind was sharp and it cut through their clothes straight to the skin. It was in a word miserable.

Yet there was something in the air here. Something different. There was almost a taste of iron and a sense of something greater. The hairs on their necks stood up in preparation.

John was in the lead of course, he was jogging along the beach ahead of them. He moved gracefully but quickly. His eyes searched every corner. Rose, Pete, Jackie, Jonathan and the children followed at a more sedate pace. There was a sense of urgency in the group, and one of expectation.

A new sound filled the barren beach and all heads turned in recognition. It was the sound of the universe. John grinned impossibly wide and came to a stop as a blue box lurched into existence beautifully, albeit slightly wobbly. The Tylers gazed warily, there was the TARDIS, exactly as they remembered it.

For a moment nothing happened.

Then the door creaked open and there was a figure silhouetted there. A word slipped from John's lips, a word they weren't expecting. Rose was reminded that, for all that intelligence and maturity, John was still a fourteen year old boy. A fourteen year old that had never truly been parted from his father in his life. A little boy that missed his dad. "Dad," John whispered and was suddenly running, dropping the duffle he'd brought with him.

Then the Doctor was running too. He was in a state of disarray, he wore the pinstripe suit but no blazer, he shirt was untucked and his hair wild. His long legs worked to carry him to John and there was relief on his face. Despite John's size the Doctor pulled him to him and swung him round. He threaded hands either sides of John's head and brought their foreheads together and closed his eyes. Neither moved.

"What are they doing?" Jackie asked, craning to see.

"Time Lords are telepathic, John's updating him on what happened," Jonathan told them, gazing enviously.

"I've never seen him do that before," Rose commented, taking her husband's hand.

"He's never had anyone to do it with before. They're father and son and, on Gallifrey, that means they're bonded on a very high level. Not to mention being the last of their kind," Jonathan mused, pulling her closer.

The Time Lord released John's head to pull him close again, crushing him to his chest, and kissed the top of his messy hair soundly. He didn't let go for a long moment. Finally the Doctor pulled away and patted his son's shoulder, still not taking his eyes off of him. He moved aside as a blur hit John full on from the TARDIS and pushed him to the floor. "What?" John yelled as he struggled up, glaring at the form of his sister. The Doctor walked past, making his way to the Tylers.

"You're so stupid!" she yelled back, punching him on the side of the head.

"I'm gone for days, trapped in a parallel universe and the first thing you do is hit me?" John bellowed, incredulous and rubbing his head.

"You deserve it because you're stupid," she screamed back. They stood glaring at each other for a long time, neither moving and both seething quietly. Then Jenny grinned and pulled John to her, hugging him close. "Missed you, baby brother," she murmured, ruffling his hair.

"Missed you too, Jen," he laughed. "Did you have to hit me so hard?"

"You know the proverb, boys have ears on their backs to you have to hit them and all that," she danced off down the beach, literally skipping.

"But you hit me on the head!" he protested, pushing her over. They could see it was all in jest, the age old relationship of brother and sister. Jenny gave a long look but John on grinned. Suddenly they exploded into action, John sprinting away from his sister who quickly gave chase. The Tyler children were also hot on their heels, laughing happily without a care in the world.

The Doctor watched them silently. He still hadn't said a word to the Tylers.

"So, what's he like?"

The Doctor swivelled to look at Jackie, a small amount of shock on his face. "Pardon?" he said in that voice they all remembered.

"Your son. What's he like?" Jackie sighed, rolling her eyes.

The Doctor's eyes widened and the smile was back, "Oh! John! Yes," he managed. "He's adventurous and curious. Always asking questions," he laughed wryly, another expression that had never changed. "Jenny, my daughter, is much the same."

"What does he enjoy doing?" Rose asked curiously.

The Doctor rubbed his chin in thought, "he likes working on the TARDIS. He's always had a thing for music ever since I taught him the basics of the piano, though he's far better than me now."

There was a shriek and they turned to see that John had pushed Jenny in the sea while Donna and Jack were incapacitated with laughter.

"What about Jenny?"

"Jen likes physical activity, running and martial arts. I didn't approve at first of course," he let out a fond smile at the memory of the argument, "didn't like the violence. But she's happy and pacifistic so I let it slide." There was a more worn edge to him, a kinder smile and crinkle in the eyes. Fatherhood had aged the unaging man, but in a good way.

They watched the children play happily. All of them were surprised when Donna allowed John to pick her up and swing her high above his head. They were all drenched now, pushing each other repeatedly into the sea would do that. Jack had latched onto John's back to join the ride too. Jenny was gleefully splashing them.

If you didn't know better you would assume they were siblings. The boys were both dark haired with their father's eyes, the girls were both blonde. They played together as if they'd done it a thousand times and had not only just met. A sopping Donna ran across the sand in her bare feet – at least they'd had the sense to try and keep their shoes dry – towards them but, instead of making for her dad, she ran to the Doctor. They weren't expecting him to pick up this drenched child and swing her, laughing. He lifted her high and tossed her up slightly before setting her on her feet.

He was dragged back with her to join the fray and, to their amazement, he did. He scooped up a handful of sea water and caught Jenny full in the face, causing her to squeal. He was then caught and grappled by John and Jack as they fought to drench him. They didn't succeed of course but it was a good effort. They'd never heard the Doctor laugh so, it was care free and genuine. He tossed Donna to John who promptly dunked her. Rose realised they were seeing a scene that had probably happened multiple times in the childish Time Lord family. After ten minutes he made his way back, slightly wet, to the others. "Sorry," he said, sweeping his hair out of his eyes.

"You've changed," Rose commented, eyebrows raised.

"Really?" the Doctor asked, feeling himself up and down. "Doesn't feel like it."

"Don't kid," Rose chuckled. "Fatherhood looks good on you," she grinned.

"No better than motherhood on you. They are beautiful children," he replied, nodding to Jack and Donna.

"It must've been hard raising them alone," Rose murmured, watching their collective children.

"I had good friends," the Doctor told her. "Wouldn't have been able to do it without them. Did you know Jack Harkness could babysit? I didn't. Well he can't really. John's visit is still classed as a hostile takeover and it's been eight years."

"Trouble like his dad no doubt," Jackie snorted, folding her arms.

"So it wasn't hard at all?" Rose insisted.

The Doctor laughed, "Rose Tyler, there are thousands of single parents in the Universe doing the same thing every single day. I mean look at your mother," he nodded to Jackie. "It wasn't so difficult," he shrugged. "Besides, I told you. I had help."

"Help?" Jackie asked.

"Well, when John was two there was sort of a crisis that needed to be taken care of – where I met Martha actually – and I needed someone to look after John, I couldn't just leave him in the TARDIS. I ended up calling Sarah Jane." He smiled softly, "it was then I realised that I didn't have to do it all on my own." He watched the children for a moment longer. "You've done well for yourself," he commented to both Jonathan and Rose. "How long?"

"We've been married seven years," Jonathan told him with a smile, "Jack is six and Donna is four."

"They certainly look a handful," the Doctor observed as Jack pushed John over playfully.

"Oh you can talk!" Rose laughed, "Your son ran in front of a car, was admitted to hospital and has been classed as this world's first alien contact."

The Doctor looked over sharply, "a car?"

"Yes, Donna chased him into the road and, well, John pushed her out the way," Pete said ruefully. "Don't worry, all evidence and medical tests and samples have been destroyed."

The Doctor nodded, "sounds like him. Reckless."

"Like his father," Jackie grumbled and the Doctor's smile was back.

"So, have you got anyone now?" Rose asked, trying and failing to be subtle.

"No," he said quietly. "Just me and the kids. I mean, who'd put up with us?" He laughed lightly and shoved his hands in his pockets.

There was a clunking from the TARDIS and the splashing paused as both John and Jenny turned to look at their ship and their dad. He nodded and both of them waded back to shore. "What's going on?" Pete asked, looking past the Doctor to the strange time machine.

"John's machine can't hold the walls of the world open forever, doesn't have the power. The walls of the world are closing again. Time we were moving on," the Doctor replied as his children joined him. When they were next to him you could tell they were his kids. They stood the same and had that look of mischievousness in their eyes. He paused for a second, "want to take one last look inside?" he asked.

"One last time?" Jonathan asked, looking at Rose pleadingly.

She sighed, nodded and moved to follow the Doctor, rest of the family in tow. The children were shocked by the size of course and a little miffed as John began to explain dimensional mechanics and dispersal to them only to be reminded, by his father, that humans weren't ready for such things. "But you explained it when I was four!" he protested.

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

Rose noticed that the place was different now. It was still made of coral and glowing a low blue but something was different. She supposed it was the fact that there were three coats instead of one tossed over a nearby branch. The fact that a baseball cap hung on a hook under the TARDIS console. The tiles of the floor were up and wires were spewing everywhere to a nearby machine. A machine that looked very similar to the one John had built.

Suddenly she knew what it was. This place looked more lived in. When the Doctor lived here alone it hadn't looked that way. Now he shared it with his children it looked lived in, cluttered and cosy. John was immediately at the Time Rotor, pressing his hand against it and humming.

"What's he doing?" Donna asked, pointing at John.

"He's saying hello, sweetheart," Jonathan replied, kneeling down next to her.

"Why?"

"Well this place is alive and she's been to him like Nurse Kay is to you. Would you miss Nurse Kay if you went away a long time?" Donna nodded in understanding and turned her head back to watch.

"This old thing still rattling about then?" Rose asked as she looked around fondly, she had missed the strange ship after all.

"She is not _old_," John, the Doctor, Jenny and Jonathan protested at the exact same time, all of them looking mildly hurt. They looked at each other and laughed.

"She's still flying," the Doctor said with a smile. "She's a lot smoother these days. A TARDIS needs six pilots and she used to get by with just the one. Now, though they still need a lot of training, I've got two co-pilots to help me straighten her out." He reached out and ruffled John's hair in an oddly familiar gesture. John shouted and tried to duck away laughing. Messy he looked even more like his father. Jenny managed to dodge the same treatment.

"Still full of surprises I take it?" Jon asked as he rubbed a control panel fondly.

"Are you kidding? She's still got attitude problems," John grumbled. He was thrown over when the TARDIS suddenly lurched in protest.

"So I see," Rose chuckled. She watched the Doctor and his children fiddling and was struck by a peculiar thought. "Can I have a picture of you three?"

"Pardon?" the Doctor responded, a bit shocked.

"Our time together is over but I don't want to forget you. You're like...part of the family," she tried to explain, waving a hand vaguely.

"Extended family," Jackie agreed.

"And I'd like to be able to remember that. Don't you have any family photos?" Rose looked at the three of them as they mused in thought.

"Not really," Jenny was the first to answer, "all our pictures are kept in Memory Rooms and made of composite psychic paper. Linked to us and stuff. They'd fade if we went too far." She tapped a couple of buttons on the console and turned a nearby glass knob.

"But there's gotta be a way, right, dad?" John asked as he pulled out his sonic pen and worked on some nearby wires.

"Of course," the Doctor grinned, looking exactly as they all remembered him. "Memories of the TARDIS are the strongest things you'll ever see, any created by her directly would survive our departure." He began rifling through a chest of draws that seemed to have spontaneously appeared. "Ah ha!" he exclaimed as he pulled out four blank sheets of paper. "How about it, old girl?" he asked her, holding them out.

A strange singing filled the room and wisps of golden light surrounded the papers, lifting it out of the Doctor's hands. It turned over and over and over, bathed in the odd ethereal light. It was so bright that all the humans present had to look away quickly. Spots of colour seemed to appear, washing over the whiteness and filling every corner. Gently the pages floated to the floor, the light fading.

Rose was the one who picked them. She smiled. She tucked two away in her pocket and handed two to the Doctor, he also smiled at them. "I guess it's time for us to go," she said as the TARDIS gave a second more urgent warning.

"I suppose," the Doctor nodded as John moved to his side.

"Thanks for looking after me," John said, pushing his hair out of his eyes. "It was nice to finally meet all of you. You're better than the stories. Real thing always is." Jenny nodded next to him enthusiastically. "Bye," was all she said.

The Doctor showed them to the door and joined them outside, shutting it behind him. "Well, I'll be seeing you," the Doctor said and turned to go, hair ruffling in the breeze.

"Wait," Rose called desperately.

He turned slowly.

"Thank you for everything, Doctor," Rose smiled. "Thanks to you I have beautiful children, a beautiful husband and a chance to live again. You take care now, don't' be a stranger!" It may have sounded harsh but it was like her and Mickey so long ago. They'd had something once but it was gone now, had become a warm friendship. At least for her.

Not for the Doctor but he hid his pain behind a smile and raised his hand to wave. "See you later, Rose Tyler – Defender of the Earth."

"Wait," she called again.

He turned once more and raised an eyebrow.

"What stories did you tell them of us?" Rose asked, call it vanity but she was curious.

"Oh," the Doctor said walking backwards until he pressed against the TARDIS door. He opened it and was half inside before he answered, looking over his shoulder "the stuff of legend," he grinned. Then he was gone. The walls closed. Hearts began, for the first time, to heal.

Many people would inquire as to the picture that took pride of place in the Tyler mansion. It was one of two identical, they'd be told. It showed the Tyler family of three generations standing next to another family – all of them smiling. When people remarked how the other man in the picture looked remarkably like her husband Rose would tell them they were related, that the children in the picture were her niece and nephew.

She smiled as she looked at that picture still. And the picture slight to the left of it. In that one the Time Rotor took central position, glowing majestically and flooding the image with light. The picture was a large landscape and to the left of the Time Rotor the Doctor leaned, clearly fiddling with something. The wild-haired and dark eyed mystery man in a pinstripe suit she remembered. But his head was turned as he grinned at the smaller figure next to him. John was grinning back in a similar informal suit and black glasses and had his arms raised as if in mid conversation. He was ducking slightly however as the ginger haired Donna swatted at his head with a smile of her own. Jenny stood next to her to the right of the Rotor also gesturing animatedly but in what looked like mid run, her hair flying out behind her as she moved to dart behind the Rotor to get to her father.

It had bothered Rose at first that Donna was in the picture but Jonathan had explained. Donna was the closest thing to a real mother John had had and he missed her so much. To the TARDIS she was as much a part of this family as Jenny and the Doctor were.

In the TARDIS a similar picture could be found fixed to the bottom of the moveable monitor, albeit a bit more dog-eared as it wasn't in a frame. The Doctor would tell people that they were his family, lost among the stars. But he'd say it with a smile. The wounds were healing. There were a couple of others in the Memory Room also, one born of John's memories and shared with them. Next to a picture of John at the piano playing for the Doctor and Jenny sat a similar picture. It was taken from behind John so only his back could be seen as he sat at the piano but either side of him sat little Donna and Jack laughing happily. He even wrote them their own song. Another picture of the children on the beach decorated the wall, water glistened in perfectly captured time. A moment preserved to be passed down by the Doctor to John and Jenny and from them to their children and to their grandchildren. Down and down the generations for eternity. A perfect section of time that would never age in all time.

For the first time in awhile the Doctor could look at pictures of Rose without a sadness in his heart, he was getting better. He smiled and all was well with the universe. Every universe.

----

So that's it. Another series finished. I think that's all I'm gonna write for the Unexpected Series (I have two small one shots on the burner for Christmas)...I can't believe it's really finished as a series...a part of me is dying.

I can't wait until End of Time but I don't want Tennant to go! The new guy looks odd and unfamiliar...I'll comfort myself with cookies and reruns.

Look out for my one shots _Under the Sun_ and_ The Doctor_ around christmas time!

See y'all and thanks for the contiuned support. Lend my ego a hand one last time and review! Please?

Love you all and merry Christmas!

- D


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